Sable is out now on Xbox Game Pass and while we don’t have a review yet, we thought a guide for beginner players would be appreciated, featuring tips we’ve cultivated over our time with the game. While the game has been widely likened to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, there are plenty of surprises to be had about this very unique looking game. Here are just a few things you need to know.
Upgrade your stamina
It’s possible to complete Sable entirely without upgrading your stamina, but now that you know that you can you probably don’t want to. You just have to know where to look.
Early in the game, you may run into a bunch of floaty worms. They’re called Chum and if you interact with them, you’ll get a Chum Egg. In a mountain hollow that’s about south and west of Burnt Oak Station is the Chum Lair. Burnt Oak is pretty much the first town your quests will take you to after the game’s tutorial area, Ibex Camp.
There in the Chum Lair you will find the Queen Chum. Talk to them and you can present them with five Chum Eggs. In exchange they’ll boost your stamina. For the next increase, they’ll ask for fifteen Chum Eggs and twenty for the next. It’s not strictly necessary to have the stamina upgrades to finish Sable, but you’ll definitely appreciate having some stamina overhead for climbing.
Maps are more important than you think
Look for the cartographer in every area you can. You can spot them by their cartographer’s balloon, which is usually perched atop one of the area’s highest points. You’ll need to make a challenging climb to get them but it’s worth it. Getting a map from them will give you a detailed look at the topography of the area. That’s important information for a game about exploration and climbing.
Take care of your hoverbike
While the compass will point you in the direction of your hoverbike’s current location, you don’t actually need to follow it. Instead you can press Y to summon your bike to you. Also anytime you use fast travel, you will arrive with your bike nearby.
All that being said, be mindful of the fact that your hoverbike cannot be piloted over water. Like Marty McFly’s hoverboard, it just doesn’t work on water and will sink and slow if you drive it over a small lake or pond. You’ll have to turn around back to dry land if you want to resume your travels and that takes an annoying number of seconds to do. (Personally, I just fast travel when I make this boo boo.)
Use markers instead of the looking glass
When you receive a looking glass, you’ll be able to use it to survey the area around you and drop pins at the landmarks you see and want to visit. Unfortunately, these pins are a little bit finicky and more trouble than they’re worth. After several hours, we’ve concluded that traditional map markers are just better and more precise and take less fiddle time to place, thanks to an already intuitive compass.
Get and sell all the scrap you can
You can sell almost anything you find in Sable, even insects. But the most abundant saleable you can find is scrap, which can be found pretty much anywhere where there are ruined machines. There’s plenty to be found by Trellic’s Pillar in the north and The Whale in the west. Take the scrap to Altyn, the Scrapper who runs the junk yard by Burnt Oak Station for a bit of cash.
Check your mail for an important quest
Every town has a capsule shaped floating mailbox that holds voice memos addressed to you. After a few day-night cycles in the game, be sure to start checking on it when you can as there’s an important quest that won’t begin until you receive a message from someone back at Ibex Camp.
Sable launched on September 23, 2021 on Xbox Game Pass for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PCs. It can also be purchased from the Microsoft Store.