Concrete Genie review round-up
PS4 exclusive is out this week
Concrete Genie reviews have gone live to coincide with the game’s release this week.
Developed by Entwined studio Pixelopus, the title features lonely protagonist Ash, who’s tasked with bringing polluted seaside town Denska back to life with a magic paintbrush.
At the time of publication, the game has a score of 77 on review aggregation site Metacritic, based on 30 reviews.
Read on to see what some critics thought of the PS4 exclusive, which won Best Family Game at the Gamescom 2019 Awards in August.
- Push Square (7/10) – “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.”
- ShackNews (7/10) – “Overall, Concrete Genie feels like a satisfying story, even if it does clock in at only four or five hours for the main story. For a value-priced game, that still feels rather short. However, between all of the pages that Ash can grab to add to his sketchbook, there are hundreds of different artistic combinations to bring out.”
- EGM (2/5) – “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.”
- PlayStation Universe (9.5/10) – “Concrete Genie and Ash are a welcome addition to the growing PlayStation family that includes iconic characters such as Kratos and games like Horizon Zero Dawn. It’s a tough release window for a unique game like Concrete Genie to compete amongst the year end AAA giants, but this amazing title still deserves your attention.”
- Daily Star (5/5) – “Pixleopus has made a triumphant return with Concrete Genie; from your very first brush stroke you’ll be so swept away by the colour and narrative that by the time it’s over, you’ll want to jump right back in again to paint the town red, and blue… and green.”
- Destructoid (8/10) – “Sometimes it’s okay to just unwind with a lower-stakes adventure, and that’s where Concrete Genie comes in. It might not be on a lot of Game of the Year lists, sell as well as other open world games, or even be referred to as a “classic” in the years to come. But I’ll never forget it. Go in with an open mind and a few caveats.”
- PlayStation Lifestyle (9/10) – “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.”
- Metro (5/10) – “A peculiarly underdeveloped riff on Jet Set Radio that never manages to find anything interesting to do with any of its many gameplay mechanics and story ideas.”
- Eurogamer (Recommended) – “Concrete Genie is an ambitious game, and it matches that ambition with heart. There’s so much of it here, from the animation style, right down to the experiences of each character. There’s something touching and personal about some of the stories told, and it makes all the difference.”
- IGN (8/10) – “Success in Concrete Genie comes easily – probably too easily for some – but that ease lets its best moments breathe. It’s less about challenging you to get through traditional video game obstacles than it is about letting you challenge yourself to keep coming up with new and creative ideas, new designs, and new places to put them around this dilapidated city.”
Concrete Genie is out now in the US and released on Wednesday in Europe. It’s available from the US PlayStation Store ($29.99), EU PlayStation Store (£24.99), Amazon (£22.99), Game (£24.99) and Best Buy ($29.99), among other retailers.
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