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The Gunk
Released On: Dec 16, 2021
70
6.8
Where to Buy
Where to Buy
Metascore
Mixed or Average Based on 41 Critic Reviews
70
32% Positive
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
66% Mixed
27 Reviews
27 Reviews
2% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average Based on 41 Critic Reviews
70
32% Positive
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
66% Mixed
27 Reviews
27 Reviews
2% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Dec 17, 2021
Image and Form swaps 2D for 3D, but still delivers an excellently crafted game with a captivating story and heartfelt characters.
Dec 16, 2021
The Gunk is an enjoyable adventure with beautiful visuals, whose core gameplay mechanics fall a bit short.
User Score
Mixed or Average Based on 238 User Ratings
6.8
47% Positive
113 Ratings
113 Ratings
36% Mixed
86 Ratings
86 Ratings
16% Negative
39 Ratings
39 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average Based on 238 User Ratings
6.8
47% Positive
113 Ratings
113 Ratings
36% Mixed
86 Ratings
86 Ratings
16% Negative
39 Ratings
39 Ratings
Jan 4, 2022
Great game from the creators of steamworld series, enjoyable characters and nice mechanics.
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Xbox Series X Jan 4, 2022
Nice platform, underrated, very colourfull and funny, good characters and story, absolutely recommended.
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Xbox Series X Dec 23, 2021
The Gunk is game full of charm, thanks especially to its wonderful art direction and the colorful alien world it created. Unfortunately, despite its short duration The Gunk does not manage to carry this sense of wonder all the way to the end, due to repetitiveness of environments and a gameplay that ends up being far too simplistic. It’s still a valid title, especially for younger players; it just needed a little more to truly shine.
Dec 30, 2021
In just a fraction of the time it would take another game, The Gunk manages to instil the full sense of exploring an unknown planet to its core. [Issue#367, p.110]
Jan 3, 2022
The Gunk is a competent product, but it feels very risk-adverse and derivative. You’ve seen and played elements of this game before. It can be fun for a while, but you soon realize that The Gunk has a limited vocabulary and spends too much of its time amicably repeating itself. Instead of being the foundation for something grander, The Gunk is satisfied to make its exploration and simple mechanics the entire game. As a Game Pass product, however, it’s not hard to cautiously recommend The Gunk as a pleasant enough diversion.
May 6, 2022
What I experienced was a fun but short and undercooked title. It needed much more depth and a greater range of difficulty. None of the aliens will test you and this undermines the difficulty. I wish the developers had worked on the resource management and upgrade system some more. If this had been explored, the gameplay would be exponentially better. All things considered, I enjoyed it, but I wanted much more.
Jan 10, 2022
Some might see it as an indictment of our current polluting society, others just as a very short and simple platform game with a wafer-thin story and few challenging puzzles that - unlike the titular gunk - doesn't stick around for long.
Dec 22, 2021
Relaxing adventure, gorgeous graphics, and easy gameplay. A nice surprise, I liked it
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Xbox Series X Feb 8, 2025
There needs to be more games like this. Short but impactful. Nice gameplay loop. Timely story about greed and environmentalism. Paced well. It's a nice break between harder games for experienced gamers and also a good entry point for new folks. The platforming is a little wonky and the game could have used a map. Worth a play, though, won't take too much time and it's a fun diversion for a little while.
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Xbox Series X Dec 21, 2024
Cute game with realistic character personality/emotions, cleaning up the gunk was satisfying, combat wasn't all that exciting, platforming & puzzles were good, I wish upgrading your gear via the collectables were more accessible.. some materials were so hard to find it locked me out of my last achievement I needed.
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Xbox Series X Jun 1, 2022
One of those games, the release of which was waiting for a long time, but when it came out and I played it, I was extremely disappointed. On the one hand, everything looks very nice and the optimization did not let us down. But here's the plot and gameplay - complete darkness. Two friends, and the one for whom we play, and the one that the captain of the ship are boring and not at all interesting, the general plot of the game is dull, and the gameplay ... Well, we run, we routinely clean it from dirt, we fight with very rare opponents. Zero variety and dynamics. Of course, indie projects are good, especially when budgets go to optimization and graphics, but why do I need a game without good gameplay - I don't understand. I do not recommend it. Glory to Ukraine!
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Xbox Series X Jan 25, 2022
The Gunk feels like a mid-point game to get some cash between the really important games. It's really beautiful, yes, and that's it. The gameplay is nothing new and the only cool unique mechanic is never used for anything groundbreaking. The characters are the blandest space-scrappers you can find out there, and neither them nor the world is even half as interesting as the one found in any of the Steamworld games. A bit buggy and very boring. Also, some animations in the environment look weird, and the facial animation is the worst I've seen in years, it doesn't feel even fully functional. It's a game. Not a good one, not a really bad one. Just meh. Mediocre.
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Xbox Series X 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 foot on. A slimy parasite — or gunk — covers vast ar...
Rated T for Teen
Platforms:
- Xbox Series X
- Xbox One
- PC
Initial Release Date: Dec 16, 2021
Developer:
Publisher: Thunderful
Genres:
