The Gunk

The Gunk is a story-driven action-adventure video game played from a third-person perspective. In the game, the player assumes control of Rani, a scavenger who has arrived on an alien planet with her partner Becks. The alien planet features various biomes such as canyons, jungles and caves, but the terrains have been corrupted by a black slime-like parasite named the Gunk which is actively harming the environment and its wildlife. Rani is equipped with a power glove that can be used to suck in the gunk, effectively restoring the original environment.

Players may also need to fight against corrupted monsters. When the gunk is removed, wildlife will thrive, and the player can use Rani's scanner to scan the environment and learn more about the world. All findings will be documented in a logbook that players can read.

Scavengers Rani and Becks discover a strong power source from an uncharted planet, and decide to land to investigate. While Becks stays with the ship, Rani explores the planet and collect resources using her powered glove, Pumpkin. She discovers that a strange organic substance she calls gunk has polluted the environment, but removing the gunk with Pumpkin helps to restore the beauty of the planet. Rani discovers the ruins of an alien civilization, and while Becks tries to dissuade her from investigating as there is no value in such relics, Rani begins searching through them.

Rani learns that the alien species had built a thriving society but fled when the gunk started to appear. She finds one of the aliens kept alive in a pod and frees him. The alien, named Hari, explains that they had lived in harmony with the planet for centuries, but when an entity called the Gardener arrived, he had caused the gunk to appear and forced the aliens from the planet. Becks argues with Rani's decision to head towards the Garden to try to put an end to the gunk, and soon stops talking to her, leaving Rani on her own.

The game was developed by Image & Form, the studio behind the SteamWorld series. The team began conceptualizing ideas for a new game after the release of SteamWorld Dig 2 (2017). They wanted to create a game that was larger in scale and one that would feature 3D computer graphics. Since it was one of the studio's first 3D games, Image & Form decided to use Unreal Engine 4, which enabled a smooth transition for the team.

The first prototype of the game was created by director Ulf Hartelius. The prototype included several basic character movements, and saw the player "[vacuuming] slimy gunk off the ground and watching plants grow back". The team believed that the experience was "ridiculously gratifying" and decided to turn it into a full project. Unlike the previous SteamWorld games, which were released on many platforms, the game's 3D visuals required the team to work with more powerful hardwares.

The game received "mixed or average" reviews according to review aggregator website Metacritic.

CJ Andriessen of Destructoid gave the game a six out of ten while classifying it as a "middle-of-the road, milquetoast title", praising its art direction and gratifying feel while criticizing the gameplay loop's lack of iteration over the course of the five-hour campaign. Tom Marks of IGN called the gameplay loop "satisfying" while claiming that the introduction of new ideas never made the game overly exciting due to limited movement mechanics. He also praised the world-building and in-game atmosphere as well as story for being engaging in areas where the gameplay might have otherwise gotten tedious. Eurogamer's Christian Donlan recommended the game, praising the SteamWorld developers' trademark attention to intricate detail, colorful world, and compact nature, stating that the act of sucking gunk was "an absolute joy" while citing the story as another worthwhile component that incentivized finishing the campaign.