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 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