The new trailer for The Last of Us part II left me with a lot to think about, but I was absolutely captivated with the announcement for PixelOpus‘s Concrete Genie. If The Last of Us is the sort of game you play for some hard questions about human nature, Concrete Genie looks like the perfect pick me up for a rainy hangover Sunday.
Concrete Jungle (Sketch) Book
The trailer is brimming with whimsy, color, and a straight up joy that’s rarer in games than it should be. I’m not sure if it’s fear of appearing childish, but this sort of heartfelt portrayal of adolescent wonder is refreshing. Simplicity is sophistication sometimes, and Concrete Genie wears its neon-tinged heart on its paint-flecked sleeves. PixelOpus were the team behind Entwined, and Concrete Genie already looks leaps ahead in terms of style and content.
‘Concrete Genie is a game about a bullied teenager named Ash, who escapes his troubles by painting spectacular living landscapes and mischievous creatures throughout his abandoned hometown of Denska. As he masters this magical paint, he discovers it can purify Denska’s polluted walls. Can Ash overcome the bullies and paint his hometown back to life?’
I’m sure most of us have had the experience of retreating into magical worlds to get through tough times, but although games, books and films are great, they are conspicuously lacking in friendly monsters made of glowing paint that change the environment around you, which, let’s be honest, kind of sucks. Luckily, Concrete Genie is due for release sometime in 2018. There’s not a lot of games that deal with bullying in a direct way, either, so we’re looking forward to see how the game tackles these issues.
Nic Reuben
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