This game has a very good story and an excelent gameplay. I would recommend going blind into it for the history sake.

That being said, i feel like sometimes the story drags for too long, and the fact that you cant pause during the cutscenes also agravates me.

The plot twist is good but also a bit predictable if you are paying attention

Overall great game 8/10, could be better but it delivers a fun experience

I'm incredibly split on this game. The art direction and the way this game presents its narrative feels incredibly refined and creative but the flaws in its storyline just can't be ignored. The soundtrack is immaculate but I resent the jarring decision to stop it every time you die or take damage. The gameplay feels serviceable in a way that feels like it should be better. It's incredibly abundant in bugs and there's one boss that is so unbearable to fight I would've given up had it not been so close to the end. By far the biggest issue with this game though is the ending, it near ruined the entire experience for me. I don't think I've ever seen another piece of media try THIS hard to have an emotional moment. It is so unbelievably sappy which completely contrasts what I liked about the subtle, detached presentation of the entire game prior and they just seem to completely drop the rest of the climax. I was in disbelief that it ended as it did.
Overall this game definitely has what I want to see more of in games, that being an interesting approach to presenting a story, but it hits far too many sour notes to fully realise its potential.

Also just stop writing Futaba-archetype characters please, thank you.

I was not expecting such an heartfelt and emotional story from an 2D platformer.

I really cannot put it to words how beautiful this game looks. The pixelart is just drop-dead gorgeous and the way it interacts with the lighting at times is just mindblowing. The sound and music are no slouch either and work great with the visuals.

Weirdly enough the gameplay might be the weakest link. This does not mean its bad, not even close to that as it is very solid with lots of different gameplay gimmicks and set-pieces introduced along the adventure to keep it fresh. But at times I did feel like I just wanted to get to the next story bit instead of grappling around the city.

Узнал об этом проекте совершенно случайным образом, обнаружив его добавление в вишлист одним из друзей в стиме. Как оказалось, бум популярности пришёлся на СНГ от совсем недавнего русскоязычного ролика на ютубе, поведавшем о существовании Sanabi на игровых просторах.
Первое, что приходит в голову, рассматривая изображения - Katana ZERO. Далеко не постыдная ассоциация, а вполне эффективный крючок на ценителей нечто подобного, коим я сам и являюсь. Но оправдала ли себя схожесть? Не совсем. Если Катана представляла из себя очень ёмкое, лаконичное произведение, не отнимающее у геймера больше 5-6 часов на прохождение, словно погружая в живой игрофильм, то Санаби же прибегает ко всему тому, что Катана умело избегала. Опыт прохождения выглядит примерно подобным образом: пробегаешь геймплейную секцию минут за 5-10, после лицезреешь постановку болтающих текстовыми облачками пиксельных спрайтов, что занимает если не столько же, то словно вдвое больше времени. По крайней мере ощущается это именно так. И не сказать, что это оправдано, ведь тут далеко не тарантиновские диалоги, и не кинематографичная постановка. Нужно очень постараться, чтобы удержать взгляд человека у монитора, взамен предоставляя немое кино мало прорисованных и мало анимированных 16-битных спрайтов. Авторам явно далеко до устоявшегося выражения "Краткость - сестра таланта". Кстати, ни за что не проходите игру в русском переводе. Он машинный, и он отвратителен.
Буквально каждая "катсцена" представляет из себя межгеймплейную интермиссию в виде текстовой болтовни двух человечков, и не сказать что без этого нельзя было раскрыть историю и лор. Можно всё, если уметь. Никто не отменял сюжетные детали в окружении, повествование между строк, киноязык и т.д. Не надо недооценивать умственную полноценность игрока. Вспомните хотя бы тот же Hotline Miami. Кстати, одним из основных крючков сарафанного радио является якобы слёзовыжимательная концовка. И я конечно всё понимаю, основополагающим фактором эмоциональных моментов является контекст, но и про подачу не стоит забывать. А какова подача? PNG-шка с обменом текста двух персонажей на протяжении пары минут. Без комментариев.
Ну а что до геймплея? Тут всё просто. Если вам интересно опробовать в платформере механику раскачивающегося и притягивающегося крюка, то добро пожаловать. Ничего особо, но на разок пойдёт.
В целом, Sanabi посредственный представитель современной инди сцены, но негатива не вызывает. Проект на любителя, но каким-то чудом любители и правда нашлись.

wasn't sure what to give this because the good ending left me a little cold, as this extremely anti-corporate game turned out to be weirdly pro-military and suspiciously neutral on the state, plus the writing in the emotional conclusion didn't really hit the way i wanted it to from such amazing buildup. But seriously, before that this was top 5 material. I love everything about this; the smooth, flowing platforming, the amazing controls, the beautiful pixel art and animation, the banger soundtrack and to cap it off a story that genuinely subverted my expectations multiple times and had me hooked all the way through. I really hope this game gets the love and fanbase it deserves, and that this studio gets to do whatever the fuck it wants in future I would play anything from this team.

This is an indie gem that flew under the radar of nearly everybody. I listen to quite a few gaming podcasts. Too many. I wanna cut back actually. But the point I am trying to make is that none of them talked about Sanabi. The traversal is fun as heck. Do you like grappling hooks? This whole game is about using your hook and momentum to get around and fight enemies. It's also a story heavy game, which for me, is a big check. Daddy needs his story drip. Speaking of "daddy" this is a sad dad game through and through. I shit on many tropes but I do like a good sad dad trope. Only negatives is that fighting enemies is just grapple hooking them and that's it. Though, it doesn't actually bother me. Some cool boss fights but nothing spectacular. And various art styles that don't mesh well. The base art style is lovely (though admittedly one note) but there are these anime/clay talking head cutscenes that are... very strange. Oh, and I have to admit that it's pretty cool to see Korean in cyberpunk instead of japanese/chinese

Fantastic story, probably one of my favorite narratives in the last couple years, and is probably the game's strongest point. It's rare for me to get so emotionally invested in characters, and the setting is on point.

Pixel art visuals are really good, the environments and backgrounds are packed with details and just look generally great. The occasional cutscenes also all look very good.

Gameplay's pretty good, feels appropriately snappy and flows pretty well. The levels can feel a bit too long, especially when you want to get on with the story.

Overall, great story on a pretty good game.

I played this game in early access in the middle of 2022. Me playing any early access game is rare enough, there are apparently 29 games in my Steam library that were once in early access, only four of which being games I purchased myself during that time, and Sanabi was not one of those. A friend gifted it to me and simply said "you need to play this" and so I did. Version 1.0.11 already had me completely hooked, and I could tell right away that this was going to be an incredible game when it was finished. So, after getting to the end of the demo, I put it down and patiently waited. Eventually I forgot about it, because when it finally came out on November 8th of 2023, I didn't realize it happened until it was almost December, and by the time I got around to playing it properly, it had already seen several more patches... including the addition of a speedrun mode. That's how you know it's really a gem.

A certain rule of thumb has existed in the back of my brain for many years now. "If the game has a grappling hook that isn't a quicktime event, it's probably an amazing game." Hasn't failed me yet. Well, not only does Sanabi have a grappling hook, the grappling hook is the core of the gameplay. A 2D platformer built entirely around swinging with a grappling hook and using enemies as single-use springboards is a game made specifically for me, but also a dangerous concept, since it relies heavily on the controls feeling consistent, predictable, and extremely good. The player needs to always simultaneously feel fully in control, and on the razor's edge of control. Not an easy balance to achieve.

But thankfully, it's fully achieved here, even managing to never become frustrating because the incredible clarity of the controls makes it impossible to blame the game for a skill issue. Not that you'd be doing that very often anyway, however, because even when you're not playing well, flying around the map like Captain Korea still always looks and feels cool. The game only loses its footing for a moment in the later stages, because one of the cool setpieces feels really clunky compared to the rest of the game and overstays its welcome, but I find that easy to overlook since it only happens once. It's even easier to look past that hiccup when considering the sheer rush of dopamine the final chapter gives you, rushing through the game at full power feeling like a god. I'd be singing this game's praises even if it was just a platformer with nothing else of note to offer.

But simply building the entire game around perfect controls wasn't enough. They had everything, and needed more.

Sanabi is a visually breathtaking game that bleeds style no matter where you look, with another level of visual beauty added through the extremely expressive and stylish character animations, all well beyond any reasonable expectations for a team of this size - only five people, and starting out as college students no less - to produce. Sound design is also wonderfully chunky and crisp, adding a lot of weight to the already weighty visuals, and even notably improved since the early access build I originally played.

The original soundtrack is beyond perfect for the game as well, fitting flawlessly into every scene and elevating the experience greatly while also being simply fantastic music on its own, to the point that I will probably be listening to this soundtrack outside of the game from time to time - as music to lose myself in, not just background sound - which is something I do so rarely with games that I didn't even have a top five until now; Jet Lancer, Hypnagogia: Boundless Dreams, Doom 2016, Iridion II, and now Sanabi... and it takes position 2 in that list.

Games like this aren't expected to have much, if any, narrative either. Nobody would have complained if Sanabi didn't have a storyline, all it really needed was to say that a bad thing happened and you're going in to fix it. But of course, that wasn't enough for Wonder Potion. The story of Sanabi is more than simply present, it's compelling enough, interesting enough, and charming. It's not exactly revolutionary, but that doesn't matter, it's way better than it ever needed to be - much better than the disgraceful writing of some triple-A games that get showered with praise - and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

As I played, I figured out most of the reveals before they came to pass, but from what I've seen online, a lot of people didn't, and even if you do see things coming like I did, getting to the end still makes the second playthrough feel pretty different, so I can't even say predictability is a caveat here. The only real caveat is that towards the end of the game (but not at the end, pretty much just in chapter 4), the translation quality dips, and it can be a little jarring, occasionally causing me to need to reread lines... but I can't get mad at that. Oddly, the focus on the story seems a little controversial, because The Gamers™ hate reading and cutscenes in 2D platformers, even when it's as good as this.

Fortunately for them, they only have to deal with it once, because once you see the true ending of the game - continue the game if you went downstairs - speedrun mode is unlocked. No dialogue, no cutscenes, no boss fights, no loading screens, no fades to black, just a straightforward run through each chapter with nothing to distract you from the incredibly fun flow of swinging through levels quickly. Every time you complete a chapter in speedrun mode, the game kicks back to the title screen instead of back to the speedrun menu, which is unfortunate and annoying, but livable considering how fun it is to run through each chapter nonstop. I'll call it an enforced moment of respite. My first attempt ended up at a total time of 1:11:20, which felt pretty slow to me and did a very good job of showing me just how much I still have to learn, especially since I then found out the current record on speedrun.com at that time was 25:58. I will definitely be coming back to this for a long time.

The more I like a thing, the less I usually have to say about it. I've said as much as I can think of at this point, I don't know how to dig deeper into the details about why this game is so fantastic or what makes it feel so amazing to play. So just trust me bro. I'll close with this.

Wonder Potion had everything they needed and chose to go well above and beyond for the sake of their vision. The result is something to be very proud of, and I applaud them. Sanabi is absolutely one of the best games I've played, and an all time favorite.

(from my web zone: https://kerosyn.link/when-control-is-everything-and-everything-isnt-enough/)

Sanabi is a game of very high highs and very low lows.

It has an amazing story that is badly paced and localized.

It has amazing platforming that is interrupted by horrible bossfights.

It has a strange difficulty curve and a lot of the time the difficulty options don't even do anything but the final section was basically the perfect amount of difficulty for me.

It has a great cyberpunk aesthetic and an amazing soundtrack but the cyberpunk ends up feeling a bit toothless, despite it inarguably being cyberpunk. Not quite sure how to describe it without getting into heavy spoilers.

Overall I enjoyed my time with this game a lot but there were also multiple occasions where I was really close to abandoning it.

We are Owls that never cry..

SANABI is a 2D action title developed by Wonder Potion under the NEOWIZ umbrella. You play as a retired general whose peaceful life changes forever on one fateful day. Armed with nothing but his expert skills in combat and his mechanical arm he seeks out the entity known as SANABI that hurt the one closest to him as he entangles himself in a grander and broader mystery that is looming over the horizon.

SANABI's introduction is brilliant, the game is funny when it wants to, cute when it calls for it and gritty when necessary. It gives the player ample amount of questions that pile on one another, and as the story concludes it answers all of them in a heartbreakingly satisfying way. It's not the most unpredictable story ever created, but damn is it good and well written. And the gameplay accompanying it is as good as the story. On your journey to seek SANABI you'll meet Mari who'll tag along you throughout the entire game. Mari's bubbly and seemingly carefree persona contrasts beautifully with our jaded general. She's a great character, she's bubbly and funny but not to a degree where it takes away from SANABI's darker subject matters. She, like others written for the story are layered and believable and I got heavily invested in all of their personalities during my 10 or so hours of playtime. I cried profusely when everything unfolded as the devs pulled on my heartstrings.

And what accompanies that story and characters is an equally banging and satisfying gameplay loop. SANABI is 2D action game that prioritizes movement. Your base kit is simple but hard to master; you have an ability to climb most walls, jump and your main attraction: the Grapling Arm. The arm works like most grapling hooks with an incredible weight and snappiness behind it. You graple to certain surfaces and swing, how hard could that be? Well.. decently difficult actually since Wonder Potion have done a beautiful job with SANABI's level design. Granted, some of them do get a little.. same-y but considering the game that game doesn't overstay its welcome too badly it doesn't really take away from the overall experience.

Combat is also revolving around your hookshot, and the combat encounters here are mostly just minor roadblocks that are fast to deal. They're not bad, some of them, especially the bosses are a highlight but I was wishing for something just a little bit "meatier" if that makes any sense. That being said they're mostly designed for speedrunners in mind, since the game also comes with an in-built Speedrun mode for those who seek to optimize their routes to perfection.

Music, spritework and overall presentation in SANABI are a joy as well; the game is (seemingly) based in a dystopian fictional version of Korea where a big corporation has taken over the normal, day-to-day citizen's lives. Backgrounds consist (but are not limited to) beautiful mountaintops with lushious greenery to neonlit corporate cityscapes. It's all there and it's accompanied by a great soundtrack that suits every environment beautifully. Characters are lively with so little pixels, so the devs put some extra effort into animating text boxes to bring out that extra bit of personality which goes a long way in making SANABI's world feel truly alive.

I've praised to the Moon and back.. and given it a full, five star score. But SANABI isn't perfect, no game is. So what gives? For one, the level structure can be a bit unclear where it wants you to go at times, and some of the sections feel a bit more trial and error than others (like the Overseer chase sequence). Some text boxes had weird spacing issues between sentences and some of the translations were off by just a bit. Assisted aim needs more, in-depth way to customize it and what bugged me the most was that the main characters is just.. a bit of dick at times. Look, I understand why and I understand the weight of the story but it was overbearing, just by a little bit at points.

Otherwise, SANABI is a true gem. A testement to game development and 2D indie games as a whole. It's getting a physical release soon and I cannot wait to pick it up. Please play this game because it deserves all the love that it's getting and then some. It's also priced incredibly well in my opinion.

I feel like where this goes narratively (and the almost comical amount of hoops it jumps through toward the end to get there) almost requires a different structure of game that wouldn't have to have its pacing absolutely tanked to tell its story. The worldbuilding suffers for it too - the central mechanic here would have been lovely to explore the setting with, but as it stands we mainly just get tight, underwhelming start/stop corridors (and that bullshit laser robot) - it wasn't until the last stretch where I felt the level design and energy really kicked it into gear. Makes me long for a 2D grappling hook metroidvania Deus Ex. Still, I thought the main supporting characters were genuinely well-realized, and I did like the ending.

Comparing this game to Katana Zero is a massive insult to Katana Zero.

I've spent more time reading cringe worthy, poorly written and paced dialogue written by a disgusting weaboo that probably gets off to Silver Wolf in Honkai Star Rail and decided to put her in the game, than actually playing the game. The writing is abhorent. It's a mystery to me how can anyone sit through the cutscenes and actually pay attention rather than wanting to just return to the gameplay.

Stages themselves get old very quickly. Halfway through the game they just become annoying, relying on leaps of faith and being outright confusing. They aren't intricate set pieces that the player slowly masters like in Katana Zero. Bosses are also, quite bad.

The OST is fine, the only problem is that just like with the story, the dev has no idea how to pace the OST. You can basically mute the OST and put on a "80s SYNTHWAVE DRIVING MIX" on youtube and get the same exeprinece. It's not bad, it's just lackluster.

All in all, this game is awful. I was told that it was Katana Zero with a grappling hook. I got a mediocre platformer with an awful story.

Опять же Проходил на стим деке на работе. В принципе не могу чего-то такого классного рассказать про эту игру.
Сюжет. Если без спойлеров, то сюжет про отца который ищет дочь. Конечно же это совершенно не так, но в целом пусть будет идея такая. Игру я дропнул, потому что прошло много времени с тех пор как я в неё заходил. Подается сюжет через двух персонажей которые ну просто общаются как два спрайта. И все… ну… ладно. Честно особо интересно не было, катана в сюжете была прикольнее, хотя здесь пытаются запутать, и даже навалить драмы. Но… чет как-то мех 5/10
Гамеплей. В Игре ты должен Летать и притягиваться хуком. Выполненно это достаточно удобно чего-то такого Необычного не могу выделить. Играется просто приятно, здесь можно просто Отключить мозг и наслаждаться. 6/10
Графика. В игре прикольная задники достаточные интересные цветные здания в виде киберпанка. Интересные противники, выглядят они стильно на этом наверное всё. 5/10
Звук. Каких-то интересных саундтреков я выделить точно не могу заглавная тема звучит неплохо, и еще пара синтвейвов.
Итог. 5. 5/10 игру это нужно проходить запоем. У меня же был перерыв примерно в два месяца. Игра после этого стала достаточно неинтересной, хотя я скилл свой не растерял и прыгал хорошо. Опять же там интерес к сюжету и так был минимальный, а после перерыва его вообще не стало. Поэтому побегав еще минут 20 я без зазрения совести ее удалил, и точно вряд ли включу.

Very glad that getting to the end is not what's important because this ending still feels off! anyway legend difficulty was surprisingly incredibly fun and not a slog like i was half expecting it to be, it kind of feels like the way the game was designed to be played after a first playthrough warm-up. It added some much needed difficulty and took away the option to cheese or damage tank certain sections, beating it felt great. Even after getting 100% I would still go for speedrun mode this game is just so satisfying to play

After beating the game after it finally came out of early access I can finally say this game is worth your time

the story starts off fairly weak and the gameplay while being fun isnt particularly hard however this game snowballs hard.

You can quite literally feel the developers improvement making the game more interesting more difficult and the story almost made me cry an amazing game held back by a weaker front half

Wheeeee...STORYYYYYYY...whee...STORYYYYY...wheeee...STORYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. This describes the gameplay loop and why I was ANNOYED for the first two-thirds of the game. Then, in the last third of the game, the story-balls started landing one after the other. Plus, the gameplay went from slick-but-unchallenging to just plain slick.

Narratively, Sanabi went from feeling super wrote to having one of the best bait-and-switch landings that I've found in memory. I still think the script could be pared-down by 25%, but then I don't know that I'd edit much at all from the deeply affecting conclusion.

It never got quite as hard as I wanted, but I also ended the game in awe and tears. So I might return and clean-up the last three achievements. If you go in, expect the first two thirds of the game to be underwhelming, but to have the best time in the last act.

Dá pra resumir em duas palavras: decepcionante e ruim.

A pixel art é bela... Mas o jogo é extremamente rápido e não dá para apreciar.

A ideia é interessante... Mas os controles SÃO TERRÍVEIS, extremamente IMPRECISOS, porcamente pensados. Além do seu boneco ficar se prendendo em TODAS superfícies do jogo, fazendo sua gameplay ficar "engasgada" e mais lenta e imprecisa. Inclusive a gameplay tem pouca variabilidade. O combate além de ser repetitivo ele é muito prejudicado devido aos controles péssimos.

A história inicialmente é instigante com uns diálogos bonitinhos... Mas depois a história fica repetitiva, chata e desinteressante, com diálogos ruins, chatos e desinteressantes. Junto de cutscentes desnecessariamente longas que fazem você se sentir preso no próprio jogo.
OBS: Colocar diálogos no meio da luta é uma decisão no mínimo burra
OBS2: Na reta final, a história fica ruime até moralmente duvidoso

O level design é legalzinho (embora seja frustrativo devido a jogabilidade)... Mas em algumas ocasiões é porco, preguiçoso, repetitivo e mal feito.
As fases especiais de extrema velocidade e chefões - que deveriam ser as mais bem trabalhadas e chamativas - são terríveis e conseguem ser pior que as fases normais do jogo.

Portanto, é um fato que esse foi um grande disperdício, tem aspectos bons mas que são estragados logo depois. Espero o melhor para os criadores e que eles melhorem no futuro.