The gunk, it's the kind of game you might think was destined for Xbox Live Arcade during the big days of the Xbox program. A short adventure, to be realized with limited means, but which could pull out of the game thanks to some sympathetic ideas well brought. But The gunk it's mostly the new game from the creators of the franchise Steam World, so far from being amateurs in need of a little visibility from the American company. For its transition to 3D, the Thunderful Games team (former Image & Form) is doing not too badly and offers us a benevolent title, but which does not reinvent the wheel.
Announced in the middle of summer 2020, The Gunk still managed to find a place in the calendar of fan expectations. The Xbox exclusivity (and PC via the Game Pass) promised us a little human adventure made of exploration, nature and platform sequences. A contract after all fulfilled by the developers who offer us a solid game which does not however shine by its originality.
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Read the conclusionThe Gunk
- The artistic direction
- An intimate story well told
- A benevolent title that does good
- The gameplay that does not make boxes
- Graphically not very pretty
- Big lack of challenge
- If content to recite son game design
- A little short for its price
The gunk has been tested on Game Pass PC. It is also available on Xbox Series X | S and Xbox One at €29,99 since December 16.
Anti-corruption fight
In The Gunk, we follow the adventures of Rani and Becks (camped by very convincing voice actors), two over-indebted space conveyors who travel the galaxy aboard their small ship falling apart. The two acolytes one day pick up a mysterious signal on an unknown planet and decide to land there, in the hope of finding rare resources to resell in order to erase their too many slates. They quickly discover that this planet is not like the others and that its luxuriant jungle is threatened by a parasite which devours everything in its path: the Gunk. At the controls of Rani, we must cleanse the planet of this toxic substance and uncover the mysteries surrounding its presence.
If the story of The Gunk will not win the Game Award for best screenplay, it has however for it to be treated with finesse and accuracy. A few interesting twists are sprinkled throughout the adventure, but it is above all in the treatment of the two protagonists and the themes addressed that The Gunk manages to stand out. Rani and Becks are two colleagues who have traveled space together for 5 years. Each of them has its own character and, if the lived experiences have brought them closer, they nevertheless remain at the stage of the professional relationship above all. But their wanderings on this strange planet will test their understanding and bring them closer than ever.
In The Gunk, it will mainly be a question, according to the levels, of cleaning entire areas of the presence of the Gunk thanks to Rani's multifunction glove, also called Power Glove (no link) or Poupette. Once an area has been cleared of the disgusting material, the vegetation reclaims its rights there, offering new ways to advance through the levels. One can easily consider the game of Thunderful Games as an ecological fable and an ode to beauty.
Character commentary and overall design consistently present this place to us as beautiful, a paradise whose integrity must absolutely be preserved in the face of the ravages of the polluting substance. This ecological discourse is told to us very simply, without ever looking down on us or lecturing us: “Here are beautiful things, take advantage of them and hope that you become aware of their importance. A good point to note for the development team.
Jump, suck, repeat
The Gunk is a narrative platformer puzzle that offers us in its different levels many puzzles based on the level design and the use of the Power Glove's abilities to overcome them. But here, nothing very complicated. Everything is built naturally to prioritize the discovery of the sets and the immersion of the players. In general, the puzzles are simply guessing which path to take in which order to clean the Gunk with his vacuum glove and observe the new platforms that open up as vegetation appears. It's simple, but it works.
This glove is also quite central to the story since not content with being part of Rani's character (she lost her arm while working in a mine and the glove therefore replaces her missing member), it allows us to face all the challenges of the game and learn more about the planet by scanning various plants and objects. It can even be improved with new equipment – ​​which is unlocked through scans – and buildable in our ship which serves as a central base, for a given number of resources.
Vacuum faster, over a larger area, shoot plasma balls to unlock mechanisms, deploy a decoy that attracts enemies elsewhere... The improvements will never stop to make the adventure easier for us and thus make it more fluid . For this, it will be necessary to explore the levels thoroughly in search of the precious resources divided into four categories. These are still present in large enough quantities to allow you to quickly advance in the improvements.
JVFR
Delay for a first
Thunderful Games is abandoning this time the 2D used in all episodes of the SteamWorld series in favor of a 3D under Unreal Engine 4. We can consider this as a bias, but it is clear that The Gunk is lagging behind chart. The characters especially give us this curious impression of being badly painted plastic coming from an obscure company manufacturing low cost “collector's” statuettes for games. The play of light is however mastered enough to make us say that, yes, we are still well on a game of the 2020s.
Fortunately, The Gunk is not ugly to cry and its successful artistic direction offers us some really very pretty moments to watch (the work done on the diversity of this dense and dazzling flora has a lot to do with it). For a game that relies more on discovery and wonder than on a desire to impress by aiming too high, we can say that the contract is fulfilled, especially since the adventure is accompanied by the very pretty violin compositions of Ratvader who add a little more to this heavenly atmosphere.
JVFR
But now, the five hours of the adventure will not leave a lasting mark in the hearts of the players who will go through the levels of The Gunk without difficulty. Even the fights, which are more numerous during the second half of the game, are neither thrilling nor very difficult. Some will say that they are a bit too easy. A real problem? For certain, yes. For others, how important since the line of the game is clearly to offer us a nice little caring trip.
JVFR
The Gunk : l'avis de JVFR
Simple in its execution, precise in its realization, The Gunk does not propose to us to revolutionize the genre of the 3D platform game, but what it undertakes to do, it does it well, without ever wanting to add too much. The platform phases are basic, but work, the puzzles are easily readable but are served by a sought-after level design, the use of the glove is reduced to what is strictly necessary and the improvements are sufficiently limited in number not to discourage us ahead of the amount of resources needed to build them.
You have surely understood it, The Gunk is above all a journey and a message about the beauty of the world and the things that surround us. No heavy talk, no two-ball morality imposed by the studio; simply an invitation to marvel and basta. The Gunk is not this much sought-after independent rough diamond, but it is a title that keeps its promises and assumes its somewhat weak proposal on other points.
The gunk7
If you are looking for an original work that hits the retina, go your way. Above all, The Gunk offers a trip to a heavenly world that we will enjoy freeing from the corruption that consumes it. A sweet and pretty parenthesis more than welcome.Most
- The artistic direction
- An intimate story well told
- A benevolent title that does good
- The gameplay that does not make boxes
The lessers
- Graphically not very pretty
- Big lack of challenge
- If content to recite son game design
- A little short for its price
