He who paints has power. The control over the brush and about what image is created. Who paints, shapes, arranges, creates - and creates something new, separate from what we call reality. Based on this principle "Concrete Genius" by Studio Pixelopus.
The new video game, released only for the Playstation 4, gets by without bombast and is therefore just for reflection, to witness the story. It makes the player swing the brush so that a boy can leave behind his problematic reality.
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Playstation 4 game: This is "Concrete Genius"Denska was a nice place. The place of childhood of the protagonist Ash. Today he is abandoned, only a shadow from the past. Ash still visits Denska to draw here in his book. He designs monsters, gives them names until the monsters of his life appear: a group of teenagers who harass him. They take his book, tear out the pages, let them fly, carried by the wind.
At this point "Concrete Genie" lets the player to the controller. In a crumbled lighthouse he discovers with Ash that the monsters he has just drawn have found their own life. They are created by Ash painting them on the wall with a magic brush he discovers in the lighthouse.
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Concrete Genius [PlayStation 4]
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EUR 29.99
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To paint for life
Painting is the most important game mechanic of "Concrete Genie". Using motion control, the player paints these djinn monsters on the wall. The controller of the console is thus moved according to the requirements on the screen. The player can choose from a paint box. Different bodies, horns, tails - the box expands the more pages from the book of Ash are found. In the design of the djinns so there is relative freedom. Here, the player can express himself artistically, as Ash does himself.
The djinns also have a function: they help the protagonist on the way to paint Denska again to a beautiful place. So the monsters have different basic skills. A type of genie can be made to light objects that block the way. Another can generate electricity and open electrical doors.
So the player runs, jumps and climbs through the different districts of Denska, always careful not to be discovered by the gang of youths. He paints walls, brings fairy lights to enlighten, and removes the darkness that wafts through Denska as purple mass. For this, however, the player needs the super color that he gets when he gives the djinn a pleasure.
This can be done, for example, by painting stars or lighting a fire. If the djinns are happy, they give Ash the power to drive out the darkness. Even the fight against dark creatures is part of the game, whose story deepens and turns in the course of the game.
Emotional pictures
"Concrete Genius" is a game full of metaphors and emotionally charged images. A game that approaches a serious topic, bullying among teens - while not forgetting that it's a video game. It skilfully uses the mechanics of the game to tell a story. The player is part of the game, he paints a beautiful world that is traversed by darkness.
However, "Concrete Genie" does not build a black and white world. The bad guys are more than evil. They get a story, a reason why they are chewing on a lonely boy who just wants to paint in peace.
In the Playstation 4 Exclusive Games catalog, "Concrete Genie" stands out among titles like "God of War" or "Spider-Man," because the game does not even need to rely on a bombastic staging. It gives the player no superiority, as he gets in many other games, but only the power of a brush. And it turns out that this can have more impact than any weapon.
