Flesh, Blood & Concrete
With an opening like this, I knew I was in for a treat when I started playing Flesh, Blood and Concrete. Its monologue from the main character was instantly gripping against the white stark background. It ended up really setting the theme for the overall game when you realise you are then trapped within a car and you are read all your options:
.png)
Even though I know it's a game that I am playing, I was already tense and scared of the decision, feeling the panic from a (currently) faceless protagonist. Again, it's a really effective way to start off a game, throwing you into a situation where the protagonist is immediately in some sort of danger- especially for a psychological horror one.
Thus, welcome to the game of Flesh, Blood and Concrete, a game created solo by the twitter user Onisarashi. It was released on the first of October, available to download or play it on Itch.io. The game revolves around Lera, a woman who dives off into a snow drift hopping to 'quietly disappear' from the world. But things don't go to plan as she ends up getting out of her car once it has broken down near a khrushchyovka (a type of low-cost, concrete-paneled or brick three- to five-storied apartment building which was developed in the Soviet Union during the early 1960s- from Wikipedia), going inside it, she comes across a girl, Nika, who seems indifferent to the way the building seems to come to life and move around them. You explore the building, trying to find your way back to your car- but nothing is what it seems.
Flesh, Blood and Concrete is a psychological horror game that really hits hard as you go through the story as Lera. You walk in her shoes as you explore the building, getting tid-bits about her past and life as you come to quickly realise she is depressed and has a somewhat strong want to fade from this world. While not mentioned in the game explicitly, Lera is a trans woman- in the game you come across a photo of her that has been scribbled out or you find a mirror where she is grateful that she can't see herself and even commenting that she hates her body with her very being. This adds to the element of her depression and inner turmoil. This game explores a heavy theme of wanting to die or returning to times where you never had to worry or feel the way you do now.
Image from game but lightened to see the words
While playing through this game, I found myself wanting to save Lera. Feeling her strife I wanted to make sure she could get help or could at least escape the nightmare she was trapped in with Nika. With how the game plays out, you can get two different endings- the GOOD END and the TRUE END (I could not find a BAD END anywhere). In the Good End, you are consumed by the flesh that surrounds the building, willingly letting Lera go down into a hole in the basement, being bought back to a time of 'endless pre-existance'. While it's good to see her be happy, it still has this connotations that she killed herself, leaving me to feel overall sad and empty about the choice I let her make.
In the True End, Lera doesn't want to let herself be consumed by the flesh. She tells Nika she wants to escape and even if she dies trying, going through the building and seeing glimpses into her past with the apartments, Lera realises she's not ready to say goodbye to the world, even if the world is shitty.
Seeing this choice made me sad as Nika was sad to see Lera leave- feeling like she could be human due to making friends with her, but also understanding her will to live and being thankful that Lera let her 'feel like a normal girl- if only for a short while'.
This game was packed full of revolving around this idea of wanting to return to a time before having to deal with trauma and turmoil. It makes you think about your own life and how you too may would prefer to let yourself get rocked to an endless sleep by a mound of somewhat sentient sinew compared to the idea of being crushed between concrete and flesh as the walls forever change around you- stopping you from ever escaping yourself and your strife.
One particular part of the game stuck with me. In which you go from one khrushchyovka to another. As you get into the second building, Lera starts to see more and more how Nika is not human. They end up having a frank conversation and Lera reveals how she want's to disappear. Nika responds:
Nika then cries, worried Lera will leave for her saying such things. But what really shocked me was how this specific text really hit me. The whole game is unsettling with the sinew and guts, yet this harsh check on reality and emotion really left me feeling a different kind of chill. I felt myself feeling more and more empathy for Lera, the sorrow of her life (even if we don't know much) weighed heavily on me as I hoped we could get through the game in one piece.
This game is effective at not pulling punches when dealing with a topic like this.
The only qualm I have with this game is the story telling itself.
There were points in the game where Lera and Nika were talking and I found myself growing confused by what was happening. I tried to make sense of it- but at times I really struggled to understand what they were talking about as well as some of the heavier conversational points seemingly coming out of nowhere.
Despite this, the use of sound was very effective and really added to the atmosphere with the environments. It made me feel like I was in the game itself, being the one exploring rather than Lera. Overall, the game was effective and told the story it needed to and for that- I found it a terrifyingly interesting experiance.
The main thing I will be taking away from Flesh, Blood and Concrete is the fact that this was made by one person in Game Maker Studio. It's a short story (with a play time of about an hour), but it is effective and chilling. Knowing that one person can create this kind of game and make it a truly unique experience is something I want to try and do when it comes to creating my own game. I want to make something that will leave people in awe, or leave them thinking about the game long after they've finished playing it.
I hope I can make a game that tells a story that is effective and somewhat grounded in a reality that the players can relate to like Flesh, Blood and Concrete.