If you’re a PlayStation Plus member, you probably haven’t missed the fact that there are three new games available to you for free this month. One of them, Concrete Genie, is an absolute gem, but I know that a lot of people are going to s skip it. Don’t. this is a tiny game compared to the triple-A monsters that we all know and love, but it’s an experience that’s worth having. It’s one of those games that really makes you feel something, and right now is the best opportunity you’ll have all year to get truly stuck into it.
Concrete Genie is a game about painting your town with a magical brush. You’ve got to use it to solve puzzles and advance through the story. You’ll also be avoiding enemies by hiding and creating obstacles to stop those foes. However, there’s a lot more depth to this game than you might first think. On the surface, it’s a game with a great gimmick as a mechanic, but it doesn’t look like it goes much further than that. Plenty of games have done this, but Concrete Genie is different.
Here, you have an emotional story that’s told not only through the colours and pictures used, but also the music. There’s depth here that you may not even find in games such as Days Gone. You certainly won’t find this level of storytelling in Fortnite or Apex Legends. It’s not a game you jump into every day for a quick session, it’s a story you push yourself to understand in a few big sittings. This is something to be enjoyed and digested by those who love storytelling.
Not everyone is going to be into this game, that’s clear. Some of the themes aren’t for certain players, and there are those of us who just want some dumb fun when we sit down to pay a game. You should add this game to your library anyway so that you can enjoy it on a rainy day though. You’ll always remember the story, and you’ll wonder why it took you so long to get around to playing it when you finally do.
