Thunderful Games (previously Image & Form Games) have a talent for making games that feel good to play. All their Steamworld games have intuitive controls, there is a fluidity to their character’s movements, and it never feels like the player’s fault when something doesn’t work. ‘Polished’ is something I associate with them whenever they are the developers. Enter their newest title The Gunk.
The Gunk follows Rani, a space trucker, who lands on a mysterious planet with her partner, Beck. The two of them discover that it is sapped of its life force by a mysterious gunk. After cleaning some of it away with her prosthetic arm, Rani witnesses the world explode into life. From there Rani tries to figure out what is happening in the world and get to the bottom of what caused the gunk.
This is played out in a third-person perspective, with linear progression through a large world. Rani uses her arm to clean up the gunk, scans fauna and flora, and solves simple platforming puzzles through use of seeds with different abilities. There is also light combat that involves absorbing more mobile enemies and dodging incoming attacks.
All of the action is slick, Thunderful once again lend their hand to smoothing out every jump, shot, and run. I felt fully in control in every moment and the craft that the devs have applied here is stunningly good. It is a testament to the whole team by how little I fumbled or got lost while playing The Gunk – it made me think I was exceptionally good at 3D platforming.
The world looks incredible too, the alien world contrasts the deadened grays of the gunk’s control with the colour of flourishing life. Everything in this game looks tangible, the textures throughout gives every surface a sense of palpability, almost as if you could drag your fingers over them and feel the pores.
The problems with The Gunk are strangely staid. While being exceptionally executed, the game does very little to make itself stand out. The mechanics around sucking up the gunk doesn’t really add to the game and the puzzles themselves are enjoyable but very basic. Due to the focus on forward motion of the main game, there isn’t a lot for people to explore outside of that. I found myself done with the entire game in 5 hours with no reason to revisit.
Is it fair to criticise a game for being too streamlined? Does it make sense to dock a score based on the fact that it does nothing new, but everything it does is great?
Personally, I would prefer a game to not outstay its welcome, and sometimes, very rarely, being a stellar execution of well trod ideas is enough.
Conclusion
The Gunk is a perfect example of a developer that can make tired mechanical tropes sing with master craftmanship.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
