Sanabi

Game Title: Sanabi
Released: November 8, 2023
Game Length: 9 Hours
Grade: A-

Story

Gut-Punch: Sanabi is sort of an enigma where telling you what happens will spoil the whole point of playing the game. The very beginning of the game starts you off playing some make-believe with your daughter. After a fun and loving tutorial out in the middle of nowhere, something tragic happens. Some of you will be appalled by the depressing introduction while others will question what really happened. As the story unfolds, you realize how important those feelings from the beginning are as you discover the truth behind an evil mastermind that has infiltrated a city. I'll let you know ahead of time that while the denouement is beautifully done, the bittersweet ending doesn't leave on a cheery note.

Breadcrumbs: While a lot of the game is built around a ridiculous future where there is an enormous city the size of an entire country that requires transportation to travel vertically just to get around, the developers do lay out very clear and concise parallels to your life story. Sometimes your character will throw out very obvious questions that can and are explained later on. The mystery unfolds a little at a time as you learn more about your predicament and why things are happening the way they are as you explore the city. Since there is a science-fiction element in the setting, you'll continue guessing from a wide-range of possibilities who this mysterious girl you meet is in your travels. I personally thought that maybe you were fighting in some digital space or fever-dream while someone was hacking into your mind.

Tone: A very important question that constantly comes up is whether or not it is important to get to the end. This really hammers down how listening to the narrative between gameplay levels is really what a player should be focusing on. There comes a pivotal moment at the end where you can choose to end the game by completing your mission or extending it by caring about what happens to your companion. This essentially gives you a hard battle, to which I had to turn the difficulty down to easy to complete, and the opportunity to play through the city again with all your enhancements. You'll be able to listen to some essential backstory to the plot as you run through shortened, and more fast-paced versions of the levels.

Gameplay

Chain-Arm: The whole game is built around you using your grappling hook to advance to the end of each level. There are walls where your hook cannot latch onto and sections where you are restricted to enter. You will definitely need to learn how to get in the swing of things as you make it through four regions of the city. Each section introduces a new element of gameplay such as the ability to climb up surfaces or dash into heavy objects. Every boss is rather unique as you encounter them throughout a whole section of the city before defeating them in a very indirect way at the end.

Levels: While the game does encourage you to progress through a level in the shortest time possible, there is a certain amount of leeway when jumping across platforms. There was never a moment where the game made me so upset to quit from not passing an area after a few tries. The tension can rise when you see a sniper's reticle following you around or a laser building up in the distance. You can always knock the difficulty down to Easy if you want to be invulnerable to all attacks. 

Summary

Review: The game cycles between fast-paced action and slow narrative. They both take up the same amount of time. The mechanics and story are beautifully done. Ironically, learning the truth behind the mystery kind of ends the game in a rather abrupt and unusual way. But don't think that somehow ruined the experience along the way. The narration unfolds in a creative fashion as your environment and enemies mold into the predicament you find yourself in at the beginning. If you plan on playing this game, be prepared for an emotional roller coaster.