Fortunately, the pages are easy to pick up and if there's a certain requirement to move forward, the page will more often than not be just a few inches away.įulfilling a Genie's specific request will result in Ash getting Super Paint, which can clear off tougher splotches of darkness. At the start of the game, the bullies ripped out pages from Ash's sketchbook and threw them to the winds, so the idea becomes to find the loose pages blowing around the town. This is where the game adds a degree of challenge, since Ash may not have the specific object they want. However, they'll sometimes ask for certain objects. The Genies are happy to help by playing around the area, making it feel vibrant. While Ash can paint most walls, the target areas are the ones adorned by dimmed-out light bulbs. It would have been nice if the town was a little bigger or if there was a neighboring town to help paint, but small little Denska is the only playable area in the game. There isn't a whole lot of town to bring to life, which is to the game's detriment. There's the fishing port, the hydroelectric plant, the waterways, and. It's after the first few chapters that I expected the world to open up, but it turns out that Denska isn't actually very big. And yes, to my surprise, the bullies have backstories. They're used to great effect in both Ash's recollection of Denska and also in conveying the backstories for the bullies. Flashbacks are told through gorgeous hand-drawn animation, like something out of a children's book. The idea becomes to paint Denska back to life using the brush and the Genies.Īs one might imagine, art plays a big role in Concrete Genie, particularly wall art and murals, but that's not all that Pixelopus uses to great effect. They act as companions and, under certain circumstances, helpers. The Genies are childlike beings that can interact with the landscapes that Ash puts together.
More than that, it allows Ash to draw special creatures called Genies and bring them to life. He's given a special paintbrush (I've been tempted to call this the Celestial Brush more than once) that allows him to paint walls with vibrant, lifelike objects. The bullies don't hesitate to push Ash around whenever they see him, making them a dangerous nuisance.Īsh's adventure begins when he finds himself in an abandoned lighthouse, where a spirit takes the form of one of his sketches. A gang of vandals also hangs around Denska's remains, spray painting walls and causing wanton property damage. However, he's not the only one hanging around. A young boy named Ash still comes back to Denska, mainly to remember better days when it brought happiness to hundreds.
The city is now completely empty, left to rot under a mysterious darkness. A fresh coat of paintĬoncrete Genie is set in the abandoned harbor city of Denska, once a thriving tourist town. It's a visually-pleasing masterpiece that pushes forward the joy that comes out of creation. But even with the curveball that Pixelopus throws out, Concrete Genie is a game they should be very proud of making. However, it should be noted that while Concrete Genie's central theme remains the same over the course of the entire game, the manner in which it expresses it changes significantly in the game's final hours. Concrete Genie is a game about expression and how artistic expression can make the world a better place and when it sticks to that idea, it's an incredible effort. The restoration of life, nature, and beauty is the central theme of Concrete Genie, a new first-party effort from Sony Interactive Entertainment and its smallest first-party studio, Pixelopus. Right-minded people take part in it everyday. But even with all the doom and gloom that comes with warnings of a "point of no return," there are ways to help restore the world's shine. Whether it's through the ravaging of natural resources, the population boom, or other means, the world isn't as bright as it once was.
The world by its very nature is beautiful, but it's a world that has seen its brilliance diminished over the past couple of centuries.
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