- Gunk -
Fue un juego rapido de terminar, es de esos juegos que son sencillos en todo, sus puzzles son faciles, el mapa es corto y lineal, no tiene demasiados movimientos o combates complejos.
No esperaba mucho de el juego, pero me quedo un punto de vista decente de él. Su historia se llega a poner buena apenas logres avanzar algo y tengas que descubrir más de ese planeta cubierto por Gunk.
Artisticamente se me hizo lindo tanto que me hizo recordar peliculas infantiles que son medio crudas por como se empieza volver la atmosfera.

This game is currently in the Humble Choice for December 2023, and this is part of my coverage of the bundle. If you are interested in the game and it's before January 2nd, 2023, consider picking up the game as part of the current monthly bundle.

Creating a lush beautiful world out of slime pools.

The Gunk has a beautiful moment where the player removes the last of the Gunk in an area and the player flashes a green sphere and the world’s flora comes back into view. That moment plays again and again about every five minutes or so, and each one feels uplifting. The beauty being restored is never really lost on the player as they explore the massive world that surrounds them even if it’s a guided path. While there is combat, this is almost a casual game, with a great story and interesting locations to discover.

At the same time, there’s just enough combat to make this more active than most casual games, as well as some platforming. Only a few moments have a real challenge, but it’s in a weird position. The idea of cleaning up a world while investigating what caused the calamity might not appeal to everyone, but this is a unique title in that respect.

Pick this up if you like what you’re seeing. This is just an odd game to gauge but I enjoyed myself and fully played through this title on Game Pass. It took me 6 hours and while 5 of them were great, the last hour dragged just a bit, but it still has an interesting tale, and I will applaud there’s a lot said in the story without being shoved in the player's face

If you enjoyed this review or want to know what I think of other games in the bundle, check out the full review on or subscribe to my Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/FzxvEceV60k

A beautiful classic 3D action puzzle platformer. This game starts out incredibly strong, introducing you to the main character and their... friend? lover? sister? It's hard to tell exactly how Rani and Becks know each other. They're looking for stuff to sell but end up coming across The Gunk between them and the signal for something valuable.

The game itself is fun, it really harks back to creative 3D platformer puzzle solving from the early 2000's. There's a little bit of combat sprinkled in but the main allure of the game is the beautification aspect, sucking the gunk into your vacuum glove to restore natural beauty to areas, transforming them and granting you new platforms to progress through the game.

What's disappointing is that you can feel the moment the team realised the budget was running out and they needed to end the game quickly. There's a moment where the story reaches a peak and the game hints at additional areas and you feel like you're about to set off on this big adventure that suddenly has more meaning. Then just as the game feels like it's about to open up, the character gets cut-scene'd away and suddenly you're at the end of the game.

It's such a shame too as I was really enjoying the core game loop and was looking forward to exploring more of these beautiful open areas, clearing more gunk towers, getting to know more of the planetary lore, and solving puzzles. Tons of potential here just not fully realised sadly. Hopefully a sequel will expand on this as right now it feels like an elaborate proof of concept.

👾 The Gunk (🇸🇪 2021)

Lovely queer sci-fi puzzle platformer with good art direction. Overall is too simple and straightforward which might be appreciated by busy people. The story is not very original being the relationship between the main character and her partner the highlight of the game.

🎮 Played on Steam Deck
Rating: 🪻🪻🪻👽▫️

Sights & Sounds
- The visual design was unexpectedly good. For a dev that I knew exclusively from the Steamworld franchise, I was pleasantly surprised by the often very scenic 3D environments
- The lighting effects are also quite good, which is very apparent given the huge variation in terms of light to dark environments
- I'm a little less positive when it comes to the character designs. There's not many characters in the game, but they're all very cartoony. That's not inherently negative. It just feels inconsistent with the numerous serious narrative moments
- The music is passable but maybe not memorable. The voice acting is pretty good all around, though. Both leads are able to make all the melodrama pretty convincing

Story & Vibes
- And man, is there quite a bit of melodrama. As another entry into the pantheon of lesbian sci-fi romances (of which Steam has many), it's more on the serious side. It's not that there aren't comedic attempts, but the humor misses more often than it hits. The space/soap opera drama lands a bit better
- As far as plot points go, you play as a down-on-your-luck spacefarer with a robot arm who lands on a mysterious planet that is being ravaged by the titular "gunk". Your romantic partner pilots the ship around while you handle the exploration and resource gathering
- Eventually, you learn a bit more about the relationship of the gunk to the planet as well as its origins. However, your character's obsession with the mystery begins to cause friction with your partner and her more pragmatic financial concerns. The narrative conflict you're up against is twofold--you find your goals of saving the planet and saving your relationship at odds

Playability & Replayability
- The gameplay is fairly standard 3D platforming fare with the occasional dash of Powerwash Simulator thrown in
- As you traverse the game's colorful environments, keep an eye out for upgrade materials that can be located with your scanner. With these resources, you'll be able to enhance standard things like the movement speed, health, and damage as well as more mechanically specific skills like the efficiency with which your arm vacuums up gunk
- There are some platforming puzzles, but nothing that'll surprise or excite you if you've so much as sniffed a puzzle platformer in the past
- The platforming is also pretty quotidian. Run. Jump. Grab a ledge. Maybe swing from a branch. I feel like the main character's robot arm is really underutilized in the context of movement and navigation
- Combat is mostly fine. It's satisfying to vacuum up an enemy and blast his buddy with him. Your MegaMan blaster doesn't offer much beyond a stun setting, unfortunately. Like the platforming, I felt like combat could have used a little more variety. The robot arm is certainly used in combat, but the lack of melee really makes it feel like they could have gotten more mileage out of it. I get that it's a design choice. It's just one that makes little sense
- The level design is actually pretty good. In addition to distinct visual designs, many of the areas (especially the architecture of the alien structures you explore) are really imaginative and a pleasure to navigate
- I missed some achievements, upgrades, and collectibles in the course of beating the game, but I'm not feeling a replay is on the horizon. It's a fine game, but there aren't any branching paths or alternate endings to draw me back

Overall Impressions & Performance
- I was pleased by the optimization and performance. My setup is only mid-tier, but this game ran extremely well with minimal tweaking.
- Not much to report as far as bugs go. I experienced some "spaghettification" when graphics and collision physics disagreed about what I should be looking at, but that's not all that remarkable and certainly not game-breaking
- In retrospect, I realize you could paint my critiques about movement and combat as a pointless wish that the game were more like one of the 3D Metroids (which is valid). I'm just saying that if you give a character a multitool robot arm that shoots lasers, there may be some preconceived notions

Final Verdict
- 6.5/10. It's a nice little dramatic story with cool that you can experience in 5-8 hours. The level design, lighting, and overall setting were pretty good too. Just wish the gameplay had a touch more to offer; both platforming and combat manage to feel stale despite how compact the game is. Feels like the existing pieces could have been explored a little further without adding fluff

The Gunk foi uma surpresa para mim, fugindo totalmente do tipo de jogo que costumo consumir, mas acabou me prendendo até o último segundo.

Super entendo os comentários que falam que o game é repetitivo, ainda mais porque só podemos ficar limpando a sujeira pelo mapa, mas achei isso bem relaxante e divertido.

Tanto a história quanto os personagens foram bem cativantes para mim. Apesar de ser um tanto 'simples', é bem divertido de acompanhar.

Recomendo para quem quer algo curtinho e relaxante. É um bom game para desestressar.

The Gunk is a pretty chill adventure game in which you land on a foreign planet and discover its secrets. Nothing that it does is particularly special in any way, but it just felt like a good package overall that doesn't overstay its welcome. It just tries to tell a nice short story while giving me some satisfying gameplay in absorbing the gunk, sprinkled with some platforming or puzzling here and there. The visuals are also quite nice to look at, giving this ecosystem its own identity. The characters look a bit bland in comparison, and the flora can be a bit repetitive, but since it's a short game so it wasn't too big of an issue.

Um dos melhores indies que já joguei!

Ele é simples, o que brilha é o carisma, a trilha sonora casando com a ambientação e o sentimento que o jogo quer transportar ao jogador!

A melhor forma de jogar é sabendo o mínimo possível, aproveita que é baratinho!

De defeito eu acho que as mecânicas tinham potencial pra serem mais intelectualmente exploradas, em outras palavras, os puzzles/Resoluções são simples demais e poderiam sim engajar mais o jogador!

Isso não tira o brilho do jogo só foi algo que senti falta para mim!

The Gunk nota 9

Goal is to play every image and form game so been meaning to check this one out. I liked it, short little puzzle action adventure. Cleaning up goop like in sunshine. Nothing special and doesn’t overstay its welcome. Still feels like major tech demo vibes where the dev wanted experience in 3D animation (probably for Steamworld headhunter which funnily enough is on hold now). Feels like Microsoft just gave them a nice Cheque and said have fun. Vastly prefer digs, heist and quest but still glad I knocked this off the list. Some audio crackling by end of game and dialogue was a bit cringey.

Da poco sto cercando di scrivere due righe sui giochi giocati o che sto giocando. Non sono recensioni ma pareri personali o comunque cose che mi vengono in mente. xd Stavo giocando a Kona 2 ma purtroppo un fastidioso bug non mi lascia più proseguire. Così ho avviato The Gunk un po' per caso e un po' per curiosità. Un gioco rilassante dove l'unica cosa o comunque la cosa che faremo per più tempo è ripulire un pianeta. La storia non è niente di che ma è stato bello seguire le varie conversazioni tra le due protagoniste di questa piccola avventura. Il tema è l'ambiente. Ma non è che mi ha fatta tanto riflettere sull'ambiente ma piuttosto sulla vita normale. Le protagoniste sono Rani e Becks. La prima è l'esploratrice quella che si getta subito nell'avventura senza pensare ai rischi e l'altra invece è un po' più cauta, preferisce starsene alla base. Due persone con problemi di soldi e alla ricerca di un lavoro, come può capitare a tutti noi nella vita reale. Ognuno di loro con un proprio carattere. Ridono e scherzano ma anche può capitare di litigare. Non è che questo gioco sia profondissimo in fatto di storia ma è stato bello il collegamento che mi ha fatta fare con la vita vera. Come gameplay forse può risultare un po' noioso...se parte alla grande poi ci si troverà a scansionare e ripulire sempre le stesse cose. Ma anche queste cose monotone alla fine possono avere un che di positivo. Mentre giochiamo pensiamo alla nostra vita, all'ambiente,...