Shedworks is developing an indie experience that utilizes a combination of various aesthetics to instill a deep sense of awe within the player at every moment. It is this very ingenuity that, in my opinion, makes its upcoming game shine in many more ways than one. The experience will drive players across a desert-rimmed world, wherein landscapes of boundless beauty, mysteries of incomparable wonder, and spiritual self-discovery lie in wait.
Mount that trusty hoverbike and take a ride through the glistening expanse that is Sable.
An Interactive Moebius Comic
French cartoonist, writer, and artist Jean Giraud is a name most definitely known by many. But his pseudonym, Moebius, has in many ways ascended beyond, carrying his legacy even further into history. He is known for a special kind of art, like the one shown above: a Franco-Belgian-based comic style known as bandes dessinées, which in English simply just means "drawn strips." For the auteur and the comic fanatic, Giraud's art and stories are truly captivating pieces of trippy, fantastical science-fiction, breathing life into many worlds' worth of fascination with an awesome sense of underlying detail.
This is where Sable casually soars by, riding on the back of a very much customizable hoverbike, with a story to tell as wondrous as it is filled with deeper meaning. Likened to the art of Moebius on many occasions, Sable provides a perfect backdrop of animation and color that suits its world immensely. This, coupled with a narrative that focuses on self-discovery and purpose, practically makes the game an interactive Moebius comic. Although Giraud sadly passed in 2012, I don't doubt he would be pleased with the stylization of this title.
A Compelling Narrative of Self-Discovery & Open Exploration
Much in the same way Ikai highlights Japanese folklore, Sable follows suit in its approach to bring alive a comic-book art style influenced by a mastermind while still imbuing utter originality in its delivery. Herein is where the narrative and gameplay come together in enlivening the experience, drawing out a different kind of indie that doesn't harken on fighting, but more so inner strength. As such, the open world of Sable invites no combat whatsoever. It is all about exploration, finding deeper worlds within the game as well as within oneself, the character of Sable (and, of course, the player).
Sable Creative Director, Gregorios Kythreotis, explains it most eloquently in an interview with Vice:
“This sense of discovery doesn’t just apply to places either, it's something we think applies to characters and culture too. Games, in particular, are so much about learning, whether it is learning pure mechanical systems, learning how to solve a puzzle or what a particular narrative is.”
Gathering various collectibles, solving puzzles, upgrading that sweet hoverbike, and unfolding the story beats of Sable's journey is what will drive players forward. This sense of accomplishment, with only one real goal at the heart of Sable's main narrative, is what makes the game so powerful and unique. It is unlike many that have come before it, yet Sable does still very much borrow from predecessors of the same ilk, only thereby perfecting these same concepts and broadening them with strokes of genius.
A Particular Focus On Brilliant Music & Audio Visuals
From classics in audio-focused exploration, like Flow and Flower, to the more character-driven Journey and Abzû, Shedworks builds upon this genre in music-based indie gaming. Unlike those that came before it, however, Sable lends itself to deeper meaning with how it blends its art style with the music, reminiscent of Gareth Coker's work on Ori and the Will of the Wisps. The aesthetics work in tandem so beautifully, it challenges the player to keep traversing the world, to see what else is in store, both musically and exploitatively. Hence, curiosity is Sable's most efficient design structure, drawing players further and further into its breathtaking scenery.
Likewise akin to the anime FLCL and its own collaboration with the Pillows, Sable utilizes music composed by Japanese Breakfast, blending the aforementioned comic book art and exploration with an unreplicable rhythm and beat that flows with the motions and emotions of the character (and player). It's a captivating experience that all gels together so perfectly well.
Since 2017, Shedworks has been hard at work in devising something truly extraordinary and epic. It shows. Sable, although with a release date set for sometime this year that remains as of yet unknown, already can be listed among the best indie games for the way in which it explores new ways of gameplay mixed with mesmerizing art and music. I, for one, cannot wait to glide seamlessly across the sands and to experience this breathtaking indie for myself.
Until then, it's Japanese Breakfast on repeat and losing myself in the artful wonders of Moebius...