It’s a familiar open world concept that feels less tedious, less insidious: but also less comprehensive and granular, if that matters to you.Ĭoncrete Genie‘s chief sin is that I want more of it, but the pacing does falter in the final act. Much of it is guided, which cuts down on the frustration factor. You create, help, and play with cute creatures you designed, get more parts to make more absurd monsters, then paint a masterpiece and cleanse one part of the (smallish) hub to spur the narrative.
There are several types of genies with different powers (wind, electricity, and so on), so on occasion you’ll need to think outside of the box. It’s your job to climb around and find new areas, keep them happy, and set them up for success, which you’ll do by painting various objects onto walls and using a super paint substance to clear out minor darkness obstacles. In your quest to gather up all your pages and rid the world of darkness, genies will sometimes solve puzzles for you, like burning down a door on their wall. Ash doesn’t triple-jump and backflip into a glide like a character-driven action game. Even though combat is introduced near the very end of the journey, you’re not going to be dodging bosses hoping for iFrames. Painting is done by harmless motion controls or with the right stick, and you’ll use it to accomplish three goals: crafting murals on the wall, creating life by painting genies (here’s what it looks like before and after you give them souls), and illuminating the universe. It’s a 3D platformer second, and although some of the jumps feel dodgy, it’s much easier to get over when you instantly respawn exactly where you fell.
#CONCRETE GENIE GAME SIMULATOR#
This is far from a pure walking simulator though. In part, it’s because Concrete Genie‘s beautiful locales tell their own story, evoking both wonder and fear. The stop-motion faces reminiscent of Laika’s work will probably be polarizing to some, but suit the style. As expected, a game that features fantastic art has a fantastic UI with flexible options (three difficulty settings by default, control adjustments). None of it is force-fed, as PixelOpus struck the right amount of balance to ensure that nothing is too pixel-hunty or vague. Lore is similarly both direct (collectibles) or indirect. He has a history with this world and speaks to not only us, but the cast directly. It’s also nice to hear from Ash directly. The humanity of Ash’s story, and the practical reasons why this town is derelict, mesh well with the fantasy elements of living drawings and a mysterious corruptive force. It’s all very Pixar-esque (including the nuance of its “villains” and the dripping metaphors), and I think it’s going to surprise a lot of people who have been on the lookout for a family game.
#CONCRETE GENIE GAME MOVIE#
You can practically hear the movie trailer music. Ash talks to his creations while melancholic music plays, then bullies swiftly enter the scene to rip up his book, scattering its pages.
The very first thing I do is paint, which sets the stage for the whimsy to come. We open up on a dilapidated harbor town swarmed by kids, which paints both a bleak and heartwarming picture of what’s to come.Īsh, our hero, is fondly recalling his lovely childhood with vivid artistry, doodling on his notepad.
#CONCRETE GENIE GAME FULL#
We could really use more of that light touch in an era full of games-as-a-service monoliths: Concrete Genie included. Microsoft signed Moon Studios for Ori and the Blind Forest, Nintendo still allows studios to create smaller flights of fancy like BoxBoy, and Sony has PixelOpus, among others. Although big studios tend to boast about their so-called “AAA” projects the most, a number of them have a stable of impressive, smaller-scale developers under their wing that bring the indie heat.
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