Concrete Genie
Developer Pixelopus Publisher SIE Format PS4 Release Out now
PS4
We can’t say we miss being teenagers. Quite apart from all the acne and bad haircuts, there’s the niggling existential problem of not really knowing who you are yet. Concrete Genie tells the story of a struggling teen, and fittingly enough, it crackles with potential, but hasn’t quite figured out what it wants to be.
Ash is an artistic kid; on the run from bullies one day, he finds a magical brush that brings whatever he paints to life. It’s also able to clear “darkness”, a purple mould (caused by negative emotions) spreading across Denska. Oh, and the fishing village is also suffering from a recent oil spill, which has caused a mass exodus.
There’s a lot going on, then, even before we get stuck into the painting mechanic. Imagination made dancing, glittering reality, it is the star attraction. We use the DualShock’s motion controls to draw fir trees on walls, and dab butterflies across dilapidated signage (we collect different elements as we platform across rooftops to snatch up Ash’s escaped sketchbook pages). Most of the time we paint these living murals to light up strings of bulbs to progress. Sometimes, they’re custom-made to please our genie companions, thereby charging our darkness-clearing Super Paint ability.
The genies, who follow us around on the walls like two-dimensional puppies with far too many legs, are creations of ours too. Fire, electric or wind types, they help move obstacles or connect circuits in basic environmental puzzles. But they feel like far more than glorified doorkeys: not only can we customise them using horns, tails and other accessories, we can play basketball and peek-a-boo with them, tickle them with our brush and watch them eat painted apples.
Which makes it all the more disturbing when we’re told to beat the snot out of them. In an unexpected – and unwelcome – twist, about two-thirds of the way in Concrete Genie turns from creative creature-charmer into generic action brawler. As genies become infected with darkness and escape the walls, we’re told to “attack” them with our brush until their health bars deplete. There’s nothing here that couldn’t have been achieved with inventive use of the painting mechanic (indeed, Pixelopus redeems itself slightly by returning to it for the final showdown). Violence is violence, no matter how many butterflies you stick on it, and presenting it as the way to solve conflict in an anti-bullying game feels almost offensively incongruous. Whether this tonal shift originated from inside the studio, or from forces that it couldn’t stand up to, one thing is certain: Concrete Genie’s identity crisis proves its creators still have some maturing left to do.