The Gunk Reviews
The Gunk is a short adventure but will please players who want to take a break between two AAAs. Without revolutionizing the genre and despite its lack of depth, the game brings a little breath of fresh air and gives us the opportunity to leave our planet to heal another.
Review in French | Read full review
The Gunk is a competent product, but it feels very risk-adverse and derivative. You’ve seen and played elements of this game before. It can be fun for a while, but you soon realize that The Gunk has a limited vocabulary and spends too much of its time amicably repeating itself. Instead of being the foundation for something grander, The Gunk is satisfied to make its exploration and simple mechanics the entire game. As a Game Pass product, however, it’s not hard to cautiously recommend The Gunk as a pleasant enough diversion.
The Gunk is game full of charm, thanks especially to its wonderful art direction and the colorful alien world it created. Unfortunately, despite its short duration The Gunk does not manage to carry this sense of wonder all the way to the end, due to repetitiveness of environments and a gameplay that ends up being far too simplistic. It's still a valid title, especially for younger players; it just needed a little more to truly shine.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Gunk is a rather visually stunning experience with many drawbacks that prevent it from scoring higher. While it has some noteworthy high points, it also has some devastatingly low points that show that Image & Form Games are just dipping their toes into 3D world design.
Players can move through each area cleaning up Gunk, defeating the Gunk creatures, and exploring to gather resources and discover secrets. Along with traveling across the planet, Rani will also run into a few combat encounters. She can use Pumpkin to grab and throw enemies or damage vulnerable spots on them. Battles are far and few between, but they still help to break up exploration enough that the game doesn't get boring. The Gunk offers players a fun experience with consistently entertaining gameplay.
The Gunk is a proposal that goes straight to the point. It is not perfect, far from it, but it knows how to propose something different and with a tempo totally opposite to what we are used to. It is a title that from the first moment enters through the eyes and that catches you with its gameplay that although it is not too complicated, it is effective and, above all, fun.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Successful adventure with great "Schmodder mechanics", but also a few problems.
Review in German | Read full review
Just like the thriving planet it stages, The Gunk is an action-adventure intimately marked by light and shadow. The idea of a measured and collected story is valuable, as well as both the artistic and technical inspiration and certain nuances of gameplay (above all the way in which you joyfully aspire to the dirt that suffocates the world). That is why it really becomes a wasted opportunity that with basic ingredients of good caliber, which in any case once again denote the talent of the Swedish team, the final result betrays the initial expectations.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Image & Form's first 3D title doesn't have any obscene messes to clean, but it never excels beyond a conventional distraction.
The Gunk is a creative, witty, and charming adventure game, albeit a bit on the short side at only five or six hours in length. Still, the writing, world, and exploration more than make up for the short campaign as players will find themselves immediately immersed in the world and Rani and Becks' friendship. Unfortunately, a few technical problems plague the game, the most blatant of which – getting stuck on various items – becomes frustrating in later platforming sections. Still, The Gunk is an adventure well worth partaking in.
Enjoyable, but rather slight, The Gunk is an intriguing journey through an alien planet while vacuuming up goop. There isn't much to it, though, which I found a bit disheartening.
The Gunk is a difficult game to label, but an easy one to enjoy. Whether you’re sucking up a load of the titular gunk to help bring an alien world back to life, or listening to an engaging back and forth between the game’s main characters, there’s plenty to like here, even if it doesn’t quite live up to its early potential.
Though it doesn't have all the perks and features of bigger games, The Gunk remains gorgeous and engaging. A short but sweet adventure full of puzzles and fantastic scenery.
Do not let the quirky name put you off, The Gunk is more than deserving of a play during a lazy summer (or winter for you northern hemisphere dwelling folk) afternoon. Bugs and minor flaws do prove to be an inconvenience, although Image & Form Games have still managed to deliver a solid 3D platformer that’s worth a look.
Higher profile, bigger budget indies games are here to stay. This is a perfect example of what the format could offer and a showcase of how a short game with a moderate budget can outdo its far larger contemporaries. If you've been playing Halo or Call of Duty and feel burnt out on what games are now, The Gunk is a perfect palette cleanser and an effective gateway to even better games.
The Gunk is an absolute triumph- it looks gorgeous, crafts an addictive and engaging gameplay loop, and tells a story that succeeds on every level.
A short, sharp 3D action-adventure that keeps things simple in a gorgeous world and makes a great case for Game Pass as a delivery vehicle for bingeable and low-investment experiences.
Meaning his God complex is very real, and very much in play throughout your journey.