I was interested in Concrete Genie because of seeing some of the art style. I got ready to check it out and was ready for a new adventure. Concrete Genie can be played in VR or without VR. I played the game without VR. Setting up the game options and seeing a lot of accessibility options made me happy. I was able to set the painting controls the way I wanted, adjusted the volume to a setting that worked for me, and was able to set the difficulty to the casual setting for me. Then, I was ready to dive into the game. Concrete Genie takes place in the fictional port town of Denska, once a thriving town that is now practically abandoned after an oil spill. The main character, a young teenage boy named Ash spends his time creating art in his sketchbook and finds himself targeted often by a group of kids who are his bullies, Zack, Beatrice, Froggie, Chuck, and Janie. The opening of the game shows the bullies taking Ash's sketchbook and ripping it, scattering the pages all over town. Then they shove Ash onto a cable car that takes him to an abandoned lighthouse on Denska island.
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| Ash starts his adventure. |
Ash explores the island and sees one of his pages go into the lighthouse. He chases after it and when he catches the page, the creature he had drawn on the page and named Luna comes to life and gives Ash a magic paintbrush which brings to life anything he paints. This is a good introduction into how the painting controls work and they're pretty forgiving so you're not too frustrated with painting the pictures. This also introduces the Genies which are friendly magical creatures based on Ash's chalk drawings that he made as a small child. Luna shows Ash that there is a darkness covering Denska and asks for his help to remove the darkness by using the magic paintbrush.
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| Ash and Luna have a chat. |
The creative gameplay and artwork is where Concrete Genie truly shines. The first area shows that Ash can paint on walls, doors, and up high on rooftops. As he finds more pages, it unlocks a lot of different designs in his sketchbook. Choosing from the designs is simple and among the starting art, there's quite a variety to choose from. I was delighted to paint a starry sky and seeing the stars move and twinkle, paint butterflies and watch them flutter across, or paint a strand of colorful lights and see them sparkle and move.
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| Painting a pretty picture with a variety of designs. |
The genies are also there to help Ash on his journey. For example, each genie has a different element that can assist Ash with certain puzzles. A red genie has fire, a yellow genie has electricity, and a green genie has wind. Depending on what is needed, Ash can call a genie over and they can use their elemental abilities to help him whether it's burning a tarp so he can climb up on a crate or powering up an electrical box to start a generator. Sometimes the genies will ask for Ash to draw a specific thing and when he does they become very happy filling up a meter on the paintbrush icon called super paint. Super paint can be used to paint over the darkness in various areas in Denska and allows Ash to paint even more beautiful landscapes.
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| Ash paints a pretty landscape for the fire genie. |
One of the challenges is Ash avoiding his bullies. If he runs into them, he has to run away from them and climb up on things. The bullies are bad at climbing so Ash can go all the way to the rooftops if he needs to. He can also duck around corners and call out to them and when they come towards him, he can circle around behind them and avoid them that way. The bullies will sometimes ruin Ash's paintings, but when the coast is clear Ash can fix the paintings. The story is not overly complicated and as it progresses, Ash gets a glimpse into the background of each bully. The game does a good job of showing simply yet clearly why each kid is so angry or hurting that they lash out and take it out on Ash. It sends a clear message about the fact that it isn't about Ash and is more about the pain and anger they have inside due to circumstances beyond their control and you see Ash feeling sorry for them and understanding that it was never about him.
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| Flowers and stars for an electric genie. |
As the story continues, you get to see how Ash changes and grows as a person, as well as the kids who bully him and receive a wonderful message about how hope and friends are found in surprising ways. There is not a lot of challenging combat in the game which I'm fine with because it's about the story, art, and charming vibe of the game. The game is not very long. It's 6 chapters and takes about five or six hours to complete. However, it's beautiful. The story is clearly told in a way that people young and old can understand, while adding vibrant, whimsical art that brings a lot of joy. There's a photo mode so you can take screenshots of your creations and there is a free paint mode so you can go in any area in the game and paint to your heart's content. I loved running around in free paint mode, painting whatever I wanted. Concrete Genie is a lovely gem because of the visual style, story, and charming gameplay. It set a lovely tone about seeing the beauty around us, the importance of holding onto hope, and the power of friendship. It is absolutely worth your time and I am happy that I got to play it. Thanks for reading. See you at the next adventure!
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| Free paint mode is great! See you at the next adventure! |
*Concrete Genie is available to play on the following platforms: Playstation 4
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