‘Sable’: What Is the End Goal and How Long Does It Take to Beat?
Sable, Shedworks’ dreamy open-world exploration game inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, has finally arrived. The story follows a young girl named Sable ahead of her coming-of-age ritual, where she gains access to gliding — a rite of passage in her desert town. However, she must first go on a journey of self-exploration. What will players try to accomplish in Sable, and how long does it take to beat?
What is the end goal in ‘Sable’?
You have the freedom to explore the desert as you choose. However, Sable needs to collect some ceremonial masks on her journey, each representing an aspect of gliding. The goal is ultimately to find the masks and return home for the ceremony, but there’s plenty of other fun to have along the way.
Talk to fellow townspeople, discover the wildlife, and solve puzzles to reach the end of the game. You have a few options for getting around, including a hoverbike and climbing. Check out Shedworks’ synopsis:
Guide Sable through her Gliding; a rite of passage that will take her across vast deserts and mesmerizing landscapes, capped by the remains of spaceships and ancient wonders.
Explore the dunes on your hoverbike, scale monumental ruins and encounter other nomads as you unearth mysteries long forgotten and discover who she really is behind her mask.
With its unique art style and original soundtrack by Japanese Breakfast, envelop yourself in Sable’s world and explore everything at your own pace. There is a lot in this world just waiting to be discovered. Do not be afraid. Take the leap.
How long does it take to beat ‘Sable’?
According to GamesRadar, the time it takes to beat Sable is really up to you. Getting through main tasks can take up to 8 hours, but adding in side quests and truly exploring every corner of the land can bring the hours up to 12 or more.
You don’t necessarily have to find every mask to end the game, so the level of completion is pretty much a personal preference. However, with how much detail there is to see in the desert, you might want to explore as much as possible to get the full effect.
‘Sable’ creative director Gregorios Kythreotis says ‘there’s no real plan’
According to Gregorios Kythreotis, creative director at Shedworks and co-creator of Sable, the idea was to give players as much freedom as possible. Sable does have a story, but there’s no linear path to the end.
What I would say is we tried to design it in a way so that there’s no real plan, and you’re never gonna get killed or damaged,” Kythreotis told Wired. “And I think that level of comfort allows people to relax and feel like they’re exploring the world at their own pace.”
He continued on to emphasize that players can choose what they encounter every step of the way. He added:
There is no set path in the game at all. We designed around expectations of where we suspect players will go. But we have put no restraints on that whatsoever. Not even soft restraints like combat leveling, for example, or anything like that, where enemies will be part of that one area. We don’t do any of that. The idea behind that was to try and make the game accessible to different kinds of people. Someone who wants to engage more in the exploration side can ignore the narrative of the game. People who just want to explore the narrative can ignore the puzzle platforming.
Sable is available now on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Mac. Xbox Game Pass subscribers can download the game as part of their streaming subscription.
