Completed with all achievements except for "All In" unlocked (950G). In a departure from their excellent SteamWorld series, Image & Form take their first steps into 3D with The Gunk, an exploration and light platforming game set on an alien planet. Perhaps the key mechanic features in the title, as our protagonist Rani finds the world plagued by a gloopy substance that she dubs simply "the gunk", which she quickly takes as a goal to clean from the planet using her vacuum cleaner-esque handheld gadget. Exploring the planet and seeing nature bloom into life as Rani sucks up this gunk is undoubtedly satisfying and remains so throughout the game's fairly short (typically sub-ten hour) length, though a sense of excessive repetition does start to creep in towards the end of the game.
Ultimately there's not a huge amount to the gameplay beyond the interaction with the gunk - navigating the world is fairly linear and while there's some puzzle-solving and platforming gameplay, and a few combat encounters, it's rarely much of a challenge, serving more to offer some greater variety. Away from the mechanics, there's a serviceable underlying narrative to drive forward the gameplay and the dialogue between Rani and her travelling companion is fun to follow - and overall The Gunk is a perfectly solid game, just not reaching the highs that we've come to expect from the SteamWorld games.
Ultimately there's not a huge amount to the gameplay beyond the interaction with the gunk - navigating the world is fairly linear and while there's some puzzle-solving and platforming gameplay, and a few combat encounters, it's rarely much of a challenge, serving more to offer some greater variety. Away from the mechanics, there's a serviceable underlying narrative to drive forward the gameplay and the dialogue between Rani and her travelling companion is fun to follow - and overall The Gunk is a perfectly solid game, just not reaching the highs that we've come to expect from the SteamWorld games.