The Gunk

 PC
The Gunk Image
Metascore
67

Mixed or average reviews - based on 16 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
4.9

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 72 Ratings

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  • Summary: The Gunk is a game about two friends who run a small scavenging outfit together, and who travel from one space rock to another in search for resources they can harvest and sell. One day they land on a planet that looks dead from a distance, turns out to be unlike any other they’ve set footThe Gunk is a game about two friends who run a small scavenging outfit together, and who travel from one space rock to another in search for resources they can harvest and sell. One day they land on a planet that looks dead from a distance, turns out to be unlike any other they’ve set foot on. A slimy parasite­ — or gunk — covers vast areas and seems to corrupt the otherwise vibrant nature and wildlife. It’s clear that they must fight this gunk to understand what’s happened and to save the dying planet. But this also creates a rift between them; on one hand, the planet will die if we don’t rid the planet of the gunk. On the other, we’ve got problems of our own and surely this isn’t our fight to begin with. So, who cares… right? Do we have to? [Thunderful Group]… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 16
  3. Negative: 1 out of 16
  1. PC Invasion
    Dec 16, 2021
    80
    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.
  2. Softpedia
    Jan 10, 2022
    75
    The Gunk is a game that does a decent job of offering ideas that other titles have explored in better ways. The gameplay is fun at first barely evolves. The story, especially the interactions between Becks and Rani, is decent but has nothing especially memorable to offer. The game has everything it needs for some cool cooperative play moments but does not offer those mechanics.
  3. GameStar
    Dec 29, 2021
    72
    Charming puzzle action-adventure with novel vacuum cleaner alien-slime mechanics. It can be completed on a cozy evening.
  4. IGN
    Dec 16, 2021
    70
    The Gunk is a simple little platforming adventure full of malicious messes that are plenty fun to clean up.
  5. New Game Network
    Jan 3, 2022
    67
    There is nothing special or complicated about The Gunk, but it proves to be a relaxing and light adventure that focuses on the manual removal of a toxic substance and the abrupt return of nature.
  6. Wccftech
    Dec 19, 2021
    62
    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.
  7. TheGamer
    Dec 17, 2021
    40
    The Gunk is not a disastrous game. I enjoyed turning my brain off for five hours and exploring this strange and mysterious planet. It’s okay for games to just be empty calories sometimes, and I wouldn’t knock The Gunk for just being a generic popcorn flick. The Gunk aspires to be more than that though, and it falls considerably short. The quality of the SteamWorld games gavethe expectation that this would be a fresh take on the third-person adventure genre, but The Gunk is too shallow for me to recommend - even in the slow December months. If you’re looking for character-driven action-adventure games on Game Pass, Lake and Firewatch were both added earlier this week. Give those a look and leave The Gunk in the gutter.

See all 17 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 25
  3. Negative: 11 out of 25
  1. marcinek74
    Jun 28, 2022
    10
    Great graphics and art style, nice music and simple story but the game play was very, very satisfying.
    I did not expect so great experience    Great graphics and art style, nice music and simple story but the game play was very, very satisfying.
    I did not expect so great experience from this game : started at the evening and finished next day at night (or in the morning - depending on how you look at).
    It's a pity that so few languages ​​are supported, MS could support the team in this matter. But anyway great game, now, one of my favourite.    … Expand
  2. ItsDigi
    Dec 21, 2021
    8
    Haven't played much of it, but can Russians just kindly F**k Off? 'Disregard'? Who cares about your localization? And you blame the developerHaven't played much of it, but can Russians just kindly F**k Off? 'Disregard'? Who cares about your localization? And you blame the developer with an Xbox hashtag?
    Must be too much vodka making you all retarded.
    I'm from Hungary, last time we had localized voice in a big game was like 15 years ago, and even today, we need to download fan made localizations for every game because nobody cares about us, even though we're in the heart of Europe. My girlfriend can't speak English, so I can hardly play anything with her, without those fan made locals.
    So, 0 points cause you can't hear your own voice in a game? Let me tell you, no person on earth wants more voices other than English.    … Expand
  4. ANTtheKNEEEE
    Dec 27, 2021
    7
    Very pretty game, I like the platforming and the characters. It's just a bit repetative.
  5. 3t3rnal
    Apr 9, 2022
    5
    Fun casual platformer (and perhaps at times too easy) with a story that tries, but utterly fails, to tackle a very complex topic. The graphicsFun casual platformer (and perhaps at times too easy) with a story that tries, but utterly fails, to tackle a very complex topic. The graphics style and design is pretty good, but technical aspects - especially low texture resolution, are worse, which goes contrary to the surprisingly high minimum required graphics card.

    The platforming works pretty well for the most part, and the game does have a couple mechanics to spice it up a bit, but it reveals its hand a bit too soon and becomes a bit repetitive, despite being relatively short. The "power cleaner simulator" part of it is also a bit unbalanced in some parts of the game and turns it into a bit of a chore.

    An okay experience on gamepass or heavily discounted, but nothing special, if you are looking for a really good platformer, you'll have to look elsewhere.    … Expand
  6. vgav995
    Dec 22, 2021
    3
    Highly tedious, uninteresting story and somehow even less interesting characters
  7. kruci
    Jan 6, 2022
    3
    Symulator zbierania gnoju w akompaniamencie męczących lesbijek. Okrutnie liniowy. Całą rozgrywka opiera się na parciu po prostej ścieżce,Symulator zbierania gnoju w akompaniamencie męczących lesbijek. Okrutnie liniowy. Całą rozgrywka opiera się na parciu po prostej ścieżce, czasem podskakując. Nudny, nieciekawy - fabuła nie angażuję a rozgrywka jest tak ninjaka że w połowie gry mam wrażenie że nawet twórcy nie chcieli kombinować tylko już jak najszybciej skończyć… Expand
  8. Anton161Rus
    Dec 17, 2021
    0
    #XboxNeedsRussianVoice
    0 points for the lack of localization in this game into Russian

See all 25 User Reviews

Awards & Rankings

84
#84 Most Discussed PC Game of 2021

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