The Gunk is a game that was published by Thunderful Development and Publishing as a console exclusive on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and Windows PC through the Microsoft Store. Thunderful is the same company that made the SteamWorld franchise, the award-winning 2-D action platforming series. The Gunk is this studio’s first dive into a 3-D action platforming game and it manages to stick the landing with flying colors!

When I first watched the trailer for The Gunk, I was expecting a nitty-gritty action platformer that would keep me on the edge of my seat. While what I got seems to be far from nitty gritty, it does manage to deliver an exciting action platformer game that has a lot of heart to it.

The heart that I am specifically referring to is the dynamic between Rani and Becks, two space haulers who are trying to make a living out of whatever scrap and materials that they can find throughout the galaxy. In just the first few minutes of playing the game, you can tell that these two have a lot of history and that the bond between them is strong.

Rani is the adventurous younger member of the duo and is the playable character in The Gunk. She serves as the energetic ball of energy that keeps the slightly older Becks on her toes. Becks acts as the adult of the pair and worries about nearly everything. I often found myself stopping to hear the two of them talk to each other as the adventure continued.

In fact, there were plenty of times where I was hoping to hear a bit more banter between the two, as it seemed to fit in so naturally. However, there were a few times where the dialogue led me to make a decision that wasn’t the right one. Once, I was on my way to completing an objective when Becks told Rani to come back to camp soon for something to eat. I followed this direction, but Becks told me to go back to what I was doing previously when I arrived at the camp.

The gameplay that exists in The Gunk is rather simplistic in terms of controls. At first, you are limited by just a few actions, but over time you begin to obtain upgrades by getting materials and data which allows you to unlock more actions and abilities. There are two key things that you will be doing quite a bit in this game, platforming and clearing out gunk.

The platforming is rather straight forward with not too many confusing actions or puzzles needed. However, the jumping can somewhat make you feel trapped in terms of walls that are set up in order to limit where you can and can’t go. Clearing out gunk is something that is rather satisfying, as it unlocks new parts of the map and even changes what parts of it look like. The only thing that somewhat hinders your ability to clear the gunk is your camera controls and distance.

Distance can sometimes hinder progress as you can clear out most of the gunk on the next platform without stepping on it, but there will usually always be a few areas of gunk that require you to hop on that newly cleared part of the platform. The camera can make things take longer, as it is controlled by both WASD keys and by the mouse. The Gunk doesn’t tell you this, but there is a way for it to be overcome by locking the camera controls to the mouse by holding the right mouse button (M2) while you are aiming at the gunk.

Overall, The Gunk managed to provide a wonderful experience that brought me closer to a game than I have been in quite a long time. While it is quite a departure in terms of look and feel from the SteamWorlds franchise that Thunderful is famous for, you can tell that they put the same amount of heart and soul into this that they did in all of those games.

I am rating The Gunk is a truly unique experience that I have not seen in a game for quite some time. Thank you so much for reading this review! If you would like to see some gameplay on The Gunk, click here to see my adventures with Rani and Becks!

A PC review copy of The Gunk was provided by Thunderful for this review.

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The Gunk

$24.99

8.5

Score

8.5/10

Pros

• Wonderful Writing
• Great Character Dynamic
• Unique Gameplay

Cons

• Not Fully Optimized for Mouse & Keyboard
• Some Unusual Distance Limitations