Painting vivid auroras and thunderous skies sounds enthralling in theory, but Concrete Genie ultimately presents a half-baked sense of creativity. Grass, trees, suns, rainbows – there are dozens of unique paintings to be found, and each of them have a use at some point in the game’s story. Using a magical brush and the DualShock 4’s motion controls, you’ll paint a variety of items on the walls of the town in an attempt to turn on lights that hang along the rooftops. And though I never grew particularly attached to any of the cast besides Ash, their distinctive personalities are captured elegantly through the use of interesting facial animations that draw clear inspiration from stop-motion films.ĭespite his ever-present feelings of estrangement, Ash is determined to bring Denska back to life with his colorful paint and the help of the titular painted genies that wander about the walls of the levels with you. This gloomy aesthetic is far from unattractive though, leaning heavily on an art style reminiscent of games like Life is Strange and Tearaway to bolster its visual uniqueness.
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Meanwhile, Denska is an abandoned, dreary town full of fog and rain, lending a very real sense of dread to the game’s atmosphere.
Its story deals maturely with the concepts of mental and physical bullying, coping mechanisms, and the looming threat of alienation from one’s peers. "Grass, trees, suns, rainbows – there are dozens of unique paintings to be found, and each of them have a use at some point in the game’s story."Ĭoncrete Genie is a dark game both figuratively and literally. But in an interesting turn of events, he’s introduced to Luna, one of his paintings that has mysteriously become sentient and seems desperate to solve the case of why a purple substance is overtaking the town, and his quest expands well beyond his wildest dreams. Things quickly get out of control, leaving the book’s pages scattered about the town and prompting Ash to set out in an attempt to retrieve them. Our journey starts on a bleak day when the group runs across our hero quietly minding his business and subsequently steal the sketchbook he uses for drawing. Young teen artist, Ash, is the perpetual mark of a troop of bullies in the desolate seaside town of Denska.
But there’s no denying that developer Pixelopus has tapped into an intriguing idea, and though I ended my time with the game with some lingering feelings of disappointment, I was nevertheless endlessly drawn to its fantastical world and felt sad to see the credits roll. On the other hand, its mechanically ambitious gameplay feels limited by its gaming medium, leaving players with less freedom to create than may seem apparent at first glance. On one hand, Concrete Genie is a beautiful game full of whimsical charm and clever use of art that really taps into the feeling of child-like wonder.
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