Concrete Genie - Preview of the new PixelOpus title

A few weeks ago, in the Sony offices in Rome, we had the opportunity to try Concrete Genie, new title of PixelOpus coming this year. The game, born from the same minds they created Entwined, uses a particular style to combine two distinct but perfectly balanced gameplay. We played a good part of the game, and here are our impressions; here instead you can find ours interview with Dominic Robilliard and Jeff Sangalli of PixelOpus.

Bring Denska to its old glory

In the game we will play as Ash, a boy with a passion for drawing who will see his small town Denska lose that color and magic of the past. Without spoiling the plot, your goal will be to color Denska and give it back life, without crossing the street with the bullies of the neighborhood. The title in fact deals with important issues such as bullying, freedom of expression and art. Found a magic brush, Ash he will therefore have to use his artistic skills and his Genie to bring color back to the city.

In the game, exploration is therefore the master, forcing the player to solve the various puzzles that will block your progress, even taking advantage of the verticality of the buildings. As for the creative part, the creation of Genie will require you to first unlock these strange beings, then their appendages (which will give a unique style to your creations). To draw, the system will make you use the motion sensor of the DualShock 4.

Once the Genie, you can make it move along the city walls and, giving it what it wants (always drawing), it will allow you to remove the darkness from the various game areas, which in this way will be unlocked.

Combat

Not right away, but later in the game, Ash will find himself fighting this darkness: by completely changing the type of gameplay, you will be able to attack enemies with your brush, darting on a skateboard (made of ink), replicating a little the style of play of Jet Set Radio inspiration of the creators). Based more on speed than technical skill, you will have to chase these creatures (or run away from them) and attack to render them harmless so you can continue.

The support of these two gameplay so different makes the title more interesting, as the "dead moments" of exploration are often interspersed with these action sessions. Of course, it will be up to the creators of the game to be able to manage the pace well, but for now, seeing how the build we tested was presented, it seems they are following the right one.

The game also does not leave much room for help: understanding what to do, which bulbs to turn on (drawing near, so as to chase away the darkness) and where to go, will all be actions that will be up to the player. To help, a simple map that he quickly made known as the backtracking of the title is necessary - if not vital - in order to advance in the main plot.

A minus in terms of gameplay however, we found it precisely in so much freedom: sometimes, some actions were dictated more by intuition than by explanation. If this, within limits, is what separates an easy game from a difficult one, figure out which one murals drawing to light that last bulb was hard. Nothing disastrous, however: we are talking about simple bugs that can be solved in the final version.

Last detail, not too important, is the mode VR: it will allow the player to draw some of the Genies themselves. Nothing too structured anyway, since it acts as a mere filler, as if to show a potential that is not exploited properly (but which could be in the future).

Meaning

We cannot talk about Concrete Genie without mentioning the meaning it carries with it: on the one hand, ours Ash he will have to fight the darkness with freedom of expression and street art, on the other hand he will have to face gods bullish. In the first case, a great boost is received from the fact that the magic of art, capable of giving life to astonishing things like the Genie, is the definitive solution to color a city and bring it back to the dawn of the past. The game will never rate the creations, leaving the player free to experiment: in our opinion this is a great intrinsic meaning that PixelOpus wanted to share.

In the second case, the bullies and the whole plot connected to them comes from the desire of the r software houseaccount for how the vicious cycle of the bullied becoming bully must be broken: Violence in the game is used against creatures of darkness, and always fighting with the brush and art. They are not allowed to fight these guys: the Creative Director Dominic Robilliard explained how their storyline will come to a solution that will not involve a fight between them and the player. Violence only breeds violence, and it is not the way to stop bullies.

Recalls

Many references are present in the form of inspiration in Concrete Genie: first of all, it technical style adopted (and the colors) are close to the cinematographic technique of stop-motion. Continuing, the title presents a stylistic magic that recalls the works of Ueda, and a freedom of creation close to Graffiti Kingdom. Finally, as already mentioned, combat and exploration finds its basis in Jet Set Radio. If all this may seem like a set of "already seen", in reality PixelOpus draws and reinterprets, instead of copying, making Concrete Genie, for now, something truly original.

With an interesting storyline, strong spiritual lightness and a great burden of meaning, Concrete Genie is a title from gameplay really intriguing, which certainly requires some technical refinements, but which brings something original to a stock of titles already seen. We do not yet know various details, such as longevity, any additional gameplay mechanics or other, but we certainly expect great things from this little exclusive gem. Sony PlayStation 4.