Concrete Genie lets players unleash their creative spirit and rejuvenate a downtrodden urban area by painting graffiti beasts and bringing them to life. The game is more than just making beautiful graffiti murals; new areas are unlocked with puzzle-solving help from the genies, and platforming allows the player to uncover new parts and background stamps.
But let’s get real: We’re here for the monsters.
As a reverse-Rorschach test goes, it was easy to stitch up some pretty cute blobs. Allegra Frank made two upside-down bean-shaped figures with long tendrils, like a sea creature evolved to look like kelp. I aimed for a more modest beast, just a regular furry 3-horned cryptid. Check out Allegra’s own impressions of how the game felt to play.
Just making a monster is a fun experience, but the magic really takes hold when the creature is brought to life and allowed to skulk around. Both our creations animated with surprising fluidity and a lot of endearing expressions.
There’s no word yet on how many parts you’ll be able to unlock, or how extreme your designs can get. Developer PixelOpus indicated there would likely be a limit on the number of limbs that can be added, to lighten the rendering load when a host of creatures inhabit the same area. We look forward to pushing these limits to the breaking point.
A PS4 exclusive, Concrete Genie is due to be released sometime this year. Watch the video above to learn more about our preview of Concrete Genie (and see our genies).
