Concrete Genie is an action adventure game for the PS4. It has a unique premise, one that focuses on creativity with painting as its core gimmick. The game takes place in the small town of Denska, following Ash. Ash soon reveals how empty Denska is and that is because it is slowly being abandoned by its people due to an oil tanker accident decimating the local fishing industry. This accident also cause the phenomenal known as Darkness, some dark purple material that clings onto objects, which feels pretty out there compared to how rooted in reality the game wants to be, but had to think up of something for gameplay purposes.
The story is a lot more personal though. Ash struggles with bullies, particularly, there is a group of them who constantly makes his life miserable. After destroying his own personal artbook, they force him to go to the abandoned lighthouse where he finds some of the pages from his artbook, and also a magical paintbrush that is able to bring to life his drawings. Known as genies, they are limited in that only Ash (and animals) can see them, and they can only move on the walls. A big part of the gameplay is how the player, through Ash, freely draws on the walls. You get to customize each genie to a certain degree, as well as select templates like trees or the sun or grass, and paint them.
Unfortunately, the controls are also where the game falls. The default controls has the player using the motion controls to move the brush and where you want to paint it. The motion controls are nowhere near good enough to do this flawlessly, so there’ll be times where you’ll fight it. It doesn’t help that you cannot move the camera and move the brush at the same time, so it looks that camera angle. There is the option to not use motion control and use the right stick instead, but it feels off at fell. Overall, it just feels clunky and awkward, especially for such a core part of the gameplay.
In terms of other controls, Ash is surprisingly nimble. He can easily climb structures, grab onto ledges, swing from place to place and has a decent running speed. Unfortunately, the game is locked to 30 FPS, but playing on a PS4 Pro allows 4K resolution. For a game with such a focus on colors, it’s a shame that there is no HDR implementation. The town is deliberately overly drab with its abundance of brown and grey, as it makes the colors of Ash’s paintings pop all the more.
Most of the gameplay resolves around Ash being required to paint certain sections of walls which will illuminate the lights. There will be Darkness covering some of them where you’ll need “super paint” to clear. Each part of the game is separated into zones, and you have to clear one zone before moving onto the next, so this is extremely linear. There are a lot of little things that dampens the experience though. The first is that the bullies are constantly around, so Ash is forced to shout and lure them away so he can access certain lightbulbs. This adds nothing to the game, it’s an annoyance, the bullies are stupid as they will run straight past Ash and cannot climb. This is “stealth” at its worst.
The other annoying aspect are the “puzzles”. You see, since genies are required for “super paint” to clear away certain areas, you’ll need to call them over. Or there might be something in the environment that they can interact with, like a block to push or an electric switch to charge. However, they can only move between connected walls, so more often than not, they will get stuck and Ash needs to go and clear the way. This means that despite the hint system (which can get aggressive, but is surprisingly vague), there will be plenty of times where you have no idea how to get the genies to the required location. It’s really frustrating, but this mainly happens in the earlier parts of the game since you end up repeating similar steps as you progress, so you become familiar with its quirks and limitations.
There are a lot of collectibles, which come in the form of loose pages that you collect, and billboards that you can paint on. Each page you collect will unlock another template to use in your paintings, so there’s some incentive to get them. More annoyingly are how the pages fly around so you need to chase them. Like a lot of the game, this feels superficial and is an unnecessary added step.
In an interesting twist, just as you get used to the gameplay and objectives, the second half completely changes that. All of a sudden, you’re introduced to combat, where Ash can now use his brush to attack, while also gaining the abilities to skate and dodge. This isn’t much to talk about since it’s basically just mashing the buttons along with some dodging, but it does feel weird with the sudden shift from a peaceful and chill game to one that’s a bit more dark and action orientated. This also gives the game a chance to go back to past areas for a quick battle here and there.
The game’s cutscenes are a tad bit too frequent, and too long, so that it is noticeable and feels like it restricts your freedom. It’s an idealistic plot, and one that’s overly simplified. After having most of the game running away from the bullies, all it takes are some flashbacks and quick scenes for everyone to become buddies. This rushed pacing is reflective of the game as a whole. For a game that only takes around five hours to finish, the tutorial feels too long, having the player spend a lot of time going from place to place to paint but then it rushes you in the second half with the introduction of a bunch of mechanics. Just when it feels like the game opens up with a lot more opportunities, it’s the final boss.
There is a VR mode that’s completely separate from the main game. It uses two Move controllers, and with a controller in either hand, using the motion controls to paint so like second nature and so natural that you wish that you could have played the main game this way. It’s a short experience, given that you’re only tasked with drawing stuff, but it does give you a sense of wonder. You can finish the mode in thirty minutes, and then get access to free paint however long you want. It’s a nice bonus if you already have the VR headset and Move controllers, but it is not something that you want to specifically get those (expensive) hardware for.
Overall, Concrete Genie is a game that holds a lot of promise, but isn’t able to deliver on most of them. The focus on art and colors can leave visual spectacles, but the gameplay mechanics surrounding it is clunky. The plot of bullying and its effects has the potential to be deep, but feels shallow and resolved too easily and quickly to leave an impact. The first half and the second half of the game don’t quite completely gel in terms of tone and gameplay mechanics, so it can feel disjointed. It’s not a bad game, there are plenty of moments where it’s enjoyable, but it does feel it needed a lot more polish and planning.
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