Flesh, Blood, & Concrete (Also known as Flesh Blood Concrete) is an RPG Maker Explorer Horror game by Io waxwing0 on itch.io, also known as onisarashi on twitter.
The game follows Lera, a drifter on an 'aimless journey across the ghost towns of Siberia', whose car breaks down near an abandoned apartment complex. There, she meets Nika, a girl who loves her family very much.
The game can be found on itch.io here
. It takes about an hour to play, and can be played for free, either in browser or downloaded. A list of content warnings is available on the page.
Due to the short length of the game, it is advised that you play it before reading this page.
Tropes found in Flesh, Blood, & Concrete include:
- The Anti-Nihilist: Lera and Nika discuss the philosophy of this on the rooftop. Depending on dialogue choices, Lera can fall into this trope by the end of the game, while Nika flits between this and Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!.
- Alien Geometries: The last section of the game; rooms start appearing and disappearing, reality appears to break down, and impossible hallways, rooms, and pathways occur.
- All There in the Manual: The game is short, and much of its information and lore are found in either art and stories related to the game, or on Io's tumblr blog.
- The Bad Guy Wins: In the Happy End, Lera descends into Nika's "Family", and is implied to have been eaten.
- Big Bad: The Complex is the Eldritch Abomination that is trying to capture and consume Lera.
- Bittersweet Ending: The Happy End can be seen this way. Lera is almost certainly dead, but lives on in the apartment complex as part of something greater. The game ends in her childhood apartments' courtyard, just as it began, but she's no longer ostracized and her mother invites her in for dinner.
- Dying Dream: Implied in the Happy End. Lera is shown a happier version of her childhood memories, where she doesn't stumble across a dead body and is welcomed by other children and her mother rather than shunned, with the implication that the entity in the apartment is showing her this vision as it absorbs and kills her.
- Friendless Background: Shared by Lera and Nika, although for different reasons.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Made by Nika in the True End. If Lera is adamant that she wants to leave and return to the real world, Nika will hold a way open for her to escape the Complex's flesh, though she can't join Lera on the outside and must stay with the entity.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Between Lera, who is 28, and Nika, who is around 10-11. This is subverted in that Nika isn't exactly the child she appears to be. Double Subverted however in that Nika is actually far older than Lera, so the trope could still apply in reverse.
- Minimalist Cast: Counting the Walking Spoiler, most of the gameplay involves only three characters, only two of which have names. All in all, there are six characters that actually appear in the game.
- Multiple Endings: Two, depending on what choices you make in the final room of the game.
- Happy End: Walk to the ladder in the corner, or say 'No' to Nika. Lera goes into the pit, and is implied to be eaten or absorbed into the complex. She sees the opening scene again, but instead of being shunned by the other children, they invite her to play and tell her how lucky she is to have such a caring family. Instead of the body she saw as a child, her mother is there, inviting her in for dinner.
- True End: Speak to Nika, and say 'Yes' both times prompted. Nika holds a way open for Lera to escape, but cannot leave herself.
- Pet the Dog: The Complex has one of these with Nika near the end, helping her play the piano. Despite being an Eldritch Abomination with Blue-and-Orange Morality, it really does love her.
- Psychological Horror: Has shades of this, especially towards the end, when the Complex starts taking cues from Lera's mental state and memory and forming rooms based off of those.
- Shout-Out: In one room, a Cheburashka toy can be seen, fitting for the game's Slavic setting.
- Video Game Caring Potential: A downplayed example late in the game. You don't have to do it, but if you picked up some candy while exploring, you can give it to Nika.