SERIOUS SLIME

THE GUNK is an enjoyable adventure stuck short of greatness

- Dashiell Wood

As SteamWorld developer Image & Form’s first attempt at a 3D world, The Gunk’s six hours of platforming and puzzling are a promising showcase of the studio’s versatility. Unfortunately, while there’s a degree of visual polish on the show as you wind your way through an alien world, which may make for a pleasant afternoon of adventure, the brief runtime and unambitious plot mean it’s unlikely to leave a lasting impression.

You play as Rani, one half of an interplanetary scrapper duo who are forced to make an emergency fuel stop on a mysterious alien planet. It soon becomes clear that this once thriving natural environment has been overrun by the titular malevolent black gunk, and with wildlife nowhere to be seen it’s been left entirely up to you to clean things up. Luckily, Rani comes armed with a vacuuming prosthetic—which just so happens to be a perfect tool for sucking up any instances of the rogue sticky substance you might find.