The Gunk

The Gunk is an action-adventure game in which you play as Rani, part of our duo of gritty space haulers. As they’re struggling to bring in funds, they chance upon an untouched planet brimming with life. They came in search of valuable resources, and it looks like they’ve hit the jackpot…

The Gunk is a action-adventure, atmospheric and sci-fi game developed by Image & Form Games and published by Thunderful Publishing.
Released on April 29th 2022 is available only on Windows in 9 languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Japanese, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian and Simplified Chinese.

It has received 2,195 reviews of which 1,887 were positive and 308 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.2 out of 10. 😎

The game is currently priced at 4.99€ on Steam and has a 80% discount.

The Steam community has classified The Gunk into these genres:

Action-Adventure Atmospheric Sci-fi Family Friendly 3D Platformer Relaxing Female Protagonist Space Third Person Exploration Colorful Adventure Controller Linear Metroidvania Story Rich Singleplayer Nature Narrative Action

Media & Screenshots

Get an in-depth look at The Gunk through various videos and screenshots.

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Requirements

These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.

Windows

OS: Windows 10 version 18362.0 or higher
Processor: AMD FX-6100/Intel i3-3220 or equivalent
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 580/NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 11 GB available space

Reviews

Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.

Nov. 2024

Beautiful game! Had a really fun time with it..plus the soundtrack is an absolute gem! For anyone interested you can get it for small money via bandcamp... https://ratvader.bandcamp.com/album/the-gunk-original-game-soundtrack And yeah the game has it´s minor flaws and you have to get used to the movement but overall it´s double thumns up from me!

Oct. 2024

Game is overpriced for its ~5 hour run time, but is relatively solid otherwise The Gunk is an extremely forgiving 3D Action Platformer that I could easily see being adapted into a movie. You play as Rani, who, with her “roommate?” Becks, end up nearly stranded on an alien planet. This planet has an intense source of energy that they are hoping to sell to their corporate overlords to settle their debts. With Rani as scout, you quickly discover that the surface is covered in Gunk, some pulsating reddish-black, semi-sentient substance that is attracted to pools of some light bluish-green substance; Gunk drains the area of most life in the process. The removal of the Gunk (by vacuum hand) causes the local flora to spring to life once again. Will Rani be able to track down the source of the energy? Why does Gunk also seem attracted to the energy? Story (“Exploiting the Environment is Bad”) The story itself is relatively simple with a moral that is some variation of “environmental exploitation is bad”, with allusions to either oil drilling/refining or industrialization. You have some alien deer as a stand in for nature in the first half of the game that the Gunk impedes or harms. Earth has apparently been ruined by similar events in the game's story (this is brought up at least 3 times). The main antagonist of the game brings up this fact as well in response to your meddling. However, there is no real nuance here, both the antagonist and the tech used to drain the planet of its resources are Obviously Evil (TM) that they must be taken down. The game is short, and setting up anything deeper would require more time. Gameplay (Vacuum Everything and Platform to the Next Area) The general loop of the game is “Vacuum Gunk → Vacuum Crafting Materials → Platform to new area → Repeat until Fast Travel point is unlocked to upgrade back at the base.” Any climbable areas are marked with yellow slime or scratches. Backtracking is limited if you are meticulous in your exploration, and the only obligatory backtracking segment plays differently the second time so it is okay. Any jumps over death pits respawn you at a relatively close safe point to try again after a quick fade to black. The only time you can really Game Over is taking damage in a Gunk infested area, and everything that can deal damage has a telegraphed attack or regular attack pattern. You would think that this game was made for young children given its lack of difficulty, but the main characters (Becks especially) curse often. I think there were two F-Bombs during the playthrough (one of which can be clearly heard). Removing Gunk is satisfying the first few times, but overstays its welcome IMO (reinforced in the fact that the game provides 2 upgrades that speed up removal). If the game was longer or its platforming more punishing (non-plaforming terrain is slippery, and some of the jumps are hard to judge; I would have liked the ability to grab any ledge), I'd probably have some more feelings. It is okay for its short runtime. Criticisms (The Game is Short) My big criticism is that the game is short for $25. I think I played through it relatively slowly (backtracking through a whole area once to grab some crafting materials I missed), and my play time came out to about 5 ½ hours. The thing is, I don't think the game's systems would hold up if the game was longer. Adding more Gunk removal sections or harder platforming sections would just make the game feel tedious or frustrating. I am interested in a bit more of the lore but adding a new section devoted to it would drag down the story's pacing. The only thing that I would really do is increase the material drops in the third act such that you will more easily have a fully upgraded character by the game's end. As it stands though, this is an alright game to pick up for a sale, as a palate cleanser between more involved/lengthy games. There are however, a few issues that I think need to be addressed: [*] There is an option to disable motion blur in the settings. The option works, but it needs to be toggled every time that the game is launched (i.e. motion blur starts enabled during each launch regardless of toggle state) [*] There is some significant slowdown during the elevator section of the Garden, during both occurrences, but only while the elevator is moving up [*] One of the charging enemies ended up spawning inside the elevator platform in the final elevator sequence. Thankfully, abilities and the vacuum still worked on it.

Sept. 2024

Short and sweet adventure game. Looking at 5 hours for normal play through and maybe 6 to get all the achievements. A guide is recommend as some are missable and just make sure to explore the world for all resources you come across. -For its length, it's fun enough to play in 1-2 sittings without getting repetitive -Gameplay mechanics are simple, fun and decent for the game length -Overall a very easy game -Load times and respawning is very generous -Decent graphics with very nice visual atmosphere -Decent voice acting but the dialogue is a bit meh. Didn't need some of it tbh -Plot and character deveplop is barely existent which is to be expected in a short game with probably like less than 10 cut scenes total -Worth its price but would ideally recommend on sale due to game length TL:DR: Fun short game to squeeze in between other games

May 2024

The Gunk is a short adventure puzzle platformer with a decent story but it's not something I would not buy at full price. I beat the game in 5 hours and looking back, I don't think I got my moneys worth. if you're going to buy this, wait for it to be at least 70% off.

March 2024

Short, simple and relaxing. The world and the art style really roped me in. Runs great as well! Highly recommend for someone looking for a chill game.

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