Entry 2 – Sable (and Other Stuff) [23/04/2025]

[may contain spoilers* for Sable]

Hello, reader.

This entry was originally supposed to be about the things I hate about my life; in other words, the biggest problems in my life right now that I can’t do much about. However, I have come to realise that thinking extensively on that topic was actually making me put off updating the blog. So, I decided to just write about other things for now, and come back to that arguably vent-centred topic sometime later, when I truly feel like it.

Alright then, first thing I want to talk about is this new game that I started playing called Sable. (I mean technically it’s not “new” by release date or by the date I bought it, but I just got into it recently so it’s “new” into my life.) I played it for the first time on April 19^th. I remember being surprised that I’d spent nearly 2½ hours on it in that first play session, and had barely made it past the first/introductory section (there’s at least 6 more, likely longer, sections). The game wasn’t particularly expensive, so I think that’s a really good amount of playtime for that price. Plus, it’s like- a REALLY good game. Might get into that later in the next paragraph, but like- yeah, it’s really damn good. As of right now, on 23^rd April, I have 9.3 hours played total.

The game is about the main character, Sable (whom you play as), going on her Gliding. From what I understand, a Gliding is a journey that children go on when they get to a certain age or point in life. Basically, you get given a gliding ability from the (I presume) gods which slows you down while falling, and a hoverbike; and then you’re left completely alone to explore the world and find your identity. The people of this fictional world wear masks to express themselves, and on the Gliding you’re meant to find the mask that expresses your identity. Speaking of fictional world, I think Sable has some absolute god-tier worldbuilding, and that’s one of the things I like most about the game. It seems to be set in a “dead world”, with fossils and crashed spaceships, but at the same time there’s a thriving(?) civilisation. Being mostly in a desert, there isn’t a super dense population of creatures, but the ones that are there are really cool. There’s also fish in the sand (???). Everything you look at can have a story behind it; and also everything looks so good, like the visual style, shaders, map design, etc. are really well done.

Last point I want to talk about in relation to Sable is the story. As I mentioned before, the main character is now old enough and is going into the world on her own. I myself will be going to college next year (assuming I get in and all 💀), plus now I have the time to start going out on my own; so this hits very close to home. I feel like playing this game has helped me think about that transition of moving out and becoming an adult in a more positive light. I mean there’s been other things that helped me with this as well, including conscious efforts to change my thought patterns and also watching Jack Manifold (cause he’s chill), but I do think that Sable has a significant part here.

In other news, I have been calling some of my friends** a lot more lately, despite having a massive backlog of unread chats on WhatsApp. Mostly <aBvA5Qri> and <X3w69MW3>; but I also went on a walk with <3zMekq0p> a couple days ago for half an hour, and then immediately afterwards called <X3w69MW3> for an hour and a half. So that was a lot of walking and talking (and swinging! like on the swings) for one day. I went to a play on Sunday afternoon (it was cool but I understood like maybe half), and then later found out that <aBvA5Qri> was at the SAME play for the evening show. Which means that I could have seen him on my way out (but didn’t lmao cause I was too tired ✌) (and also didn’t know he would be there). I really want to get into theatre, especially musical theatre, but I never really got the chance at school. There’s more I want to add here, but I gotta frame it better so some other time. Unrelatedly, I ordered pesto pasta with chicken some day in this last week, I forgot when exactly. But yeah I ate while watching a show with my parents, and it was very cool.

This entry is being written one day after having cleaned my room after the (presumed) (hopeful) end of a pretty intense depressive period. For context, I have recurring depressive periods every few weeks, lasting usually from a day to a week. This most recent one was of like, three or four in a row. Not a great time. I’ve noticed that the way my seasonal depression expresses has changed over the past few years. Earlier, like around 2021, I was just overall worse – more tired and irritable – during the summer months. Now, in 2025, it’s more like the frequency of the depressive periods is increasing, or the gaps between them are getting shorter. However, this is a pretty vague and preliminary observation, and I may be completely wrong about everything here. The usual grains of salt.

I would like to end this by quoting (from memory) Clawed_Beauty101; “even if all you did today was survive, I’m proud of you – surviving is difficult”. I can’t verify how accurate that is, but the message is still carried. People in the world will often say or do cruel things to you, and a really good way to fight back is to be kind to yourself. Stay chilling, and peace out :)

*I don't know if I'm meant to like, mark where it starts and ends? I'm so confused here, gang

**good luck keeping track of the random strings lmao, there might be a few