Concrete Genie Reviews
Concrete Genie, much like its main character Ash, is good-natured and warm, but also a bit flat and one-note. The game, in spite of a late-game gameplay pivot, never truly manages to engage beyond its admittedly charming painting mechanic.
Concrete Genie is a unique action adventure game that proves that the brush is mightier than the bully. The game addresses the subject of bullying through the eyes of Ash, a boy who is the latest victim of teenage thugs who destroy Ash's sketch book and scatter it throughout the now abandoned town of Denska. As you recover the pages you discover that almost every area of the rundown town becomes a blank canvas for Ash's paintings to come alive…literally.
It’s a short, steel rail line, but one that leads directly to halcyon summers and lingering sorrow. In other words, I highly recommend Concrete Genie.
Concrete Genie is a warm, joyful experience that embraces creativity in a unique way. Painting your way through Denska is effortlessly fun, and the genies that help Ash through his adventure are delightful. While this main thrust of the game is well realised, combat feels like an afterthought, as it's stashed away right at the end. This and a couple of smaller issues hold the game back from greatness, but taken as a whole, this is definitely worth playing -- and pretty as a picture, too.
Concrete Genie could be called a cute and socially important game that touches on the theme of ecology, but in fact it is an example of dull game with a bright concept.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Concrete Genie is small but ambitious work. A beautiful story of courage, friendship with excellent feelings. The gameplay blends perfectly with all the artistic aspects, cured to the details.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Concrete Genie is one of the best games of this generation—an experience that expands the parameters of what video games can be. By embracing values like artistry, empathy, and beauty, this is a title that will appeal to gamers that might be feeling a bit world-weary, bringing color to a world that has been feeling a bit gray lately. If you have ever wondered why video games have to be so violent and dehumanizing, then do the industry a favor and support this game. And lest I forget to mention: Concrete Genie is a lot of fun to play.
Concrete Genie is a wonderful experience with a strong message of kindness and forgiveness. Anyone wanting a fairly short, wholesome experience will find a lot to love here.
Concrete Genie is a fantastic game that lets you explore a beautifully realised town as well as your own imagination. While there are some tiny annoyances, Concrete Genie is so dedicated to making you feel creative that you'll barely notice them as you play.
Concrete Genie's painting tech impresses at first and its heart is certainly in the right place, but the game ultimately proves too aimless to support its already brief running time. Adorning the city in landscapes of your own creation quickly loses its luster as you realize that what you create lacks meaningful interactivity. Even the jarring addition of combat midway through doesn't do much to counter the sense that Pixelopus couldn't find a way to build out a full game around a simple gameplay idea.
Concrete Genie has outstanding design and a style which bring the game to life, and keep it from fading into the background alongside every other game on the market.
Concrete Genie has plenty of depth and heart, feeling freeform enough to relinquish creative control to the player, but also guided enough for those that might feel they lack the creativity or patience to make compelling art. It’s pacing is brilliant, keeping great momentum as it works its way through the narrative, even it it stumbles slightly when it comes to giving certain mechanics room to breathe.
Concrete Genie is a short, deeply moving expression of creativity and life. Despite embracing some generic mechanics towards the end, Concrete Genie is a bold, passionate game that bears one of the most stunning aesthetics I've seen all year
Concrete Genie is a wonderful game for younger gamers. From its stunning graphics and art style to the heartwarming story of childhood and the effects we can have on others, the game delivers its message beautifully. I just wish it could have been a bit longer. It's definitely a bit simple for adults, but if you're looking for the perfect game to play with your kids, I can't recommend it highly enough. It's one of the most lovely little adventures I've been on this year.
Concrete Genie is a gorgeous game that will fulfill your eyes, but it fell short in terms of gameplay mechanics.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
As gorgeous to behold at as it is a blast to play, Concrete Genie offers up one of the best, most heartfelt video game experiences of 2019.
If the sympathetic capital of the creatures of Concrete Genie is undeniable, for all the rest, the title developed by the Californian studio Pixelopus barely shine beyond its singular artistic direction. Without an original proposal of gameplay and a very limited interaction with the nice monsters, the progression is tasteless, remote-controlled and we will quickly choose to move from motion detection to the right stick, which says a lot about the success of the game initial concept.
Review in French | Read full review
Concrete Genie certainly has a vandal's heart, but this creatively-oriented PlayStation 4 exclusive struggles to tie its various mechanics together.
If you are going to buy Concrete Genie buy it for the novelty. You'll probably enjoy painting the town with glorious neon landscapes, but there's just not much more to it than that.