The gunk multiplayer how to#
The gunk multiplayer series#

It gets the job done and lets you move on with a pleasant, uplifting story that fun to play through.ĭuring the game, you’ll unlock a plethora of upgrades for your robotic arm by scanning everything around you, and some of them are definitely helpful, but you certainly don’t need them.

But you’ll remember it, because it doesn’t drag on interminably. Instead of artificially extending the game for no reason, they simply told the story they wanted to tell, an approach that’s sadly lacking in the game industry these days. The devs could easily have expanded this game to a Rare-style collect-a-thon that forced you to gather up a bunch of random plant samples and jump around for hours to get that last leaf or whatever, but they didn’t. It’s important to keep in mind that this is a short experience and that makes all the difference in The Gunk.

The gunk multiplayer how to#

Most of the gameplay consists of figuring out how to activate various platforms and plants, and it’s just a pleasure to wander around in the environment, even though long-time gamers will feel like they’re being led by the hand a bit. Vacuuming up gunk is surprisingly satisfying and while Rani might chatter on a bit too much, it never really gets irritating. The closest thing to The Gunk out there in terms of visual design is probably Journey to the Savage Planet (review here), but that’s a pretty intense first person platformer and this is a chill third person adventure. For a first attempt at 3D, Image and Form has honestly knocked it out of the part in terms of visual design, creating new and unique looks for plants, creatures and more. This is a relaxing adventure that will have you gazing around in wonder at the environments, save for some of the darker parts of the story that are suitably grey, red, and unpleasant for story purposes. The Gunk is an absolutely gorgeous game and the alien world is lush and vibrant, teeming with weird and wonderful plants and creatures, almost none of which want to kill you. Rather than pixel art, I & F has chosen to go with fully rendered 3D for The Gunk and the results are nothing short of spectacular. You’re here for the story and the visuals. You’re not here for the challenge though. Once you get a feel for the controls, it’s quite easy and the plethora of upgrades available through the course of the game leave you nearly invincible. There’s combat and you can absolutely die in it, but mostly because you weren’t expecting combat. You just respawn to zero fanfare where you died with no penalties. Sure, you need to be able to handle a 3D camera and aim and stuff, but dying doesn’t really do anything in The Gunk. You’re not going to struggle too hard to do it either, since the difficulty here is quite low. You can easily beat the Gunk in a couple days of light casual play and that’s perfectly fine. This is a focused gameplay experience as much or more than it’s a game, and at around 5 hours, it’s not going to take you a long time. That’s kind of the entirety of The Gunk too. It’s a simple, charming story that isn’t overdone or underdone but just leads the player comfortably through the experience. As you wander through the alien planet, things are a little more complex than you might have initially expected and Rani and her shipmate Beck have a deep and complex relationship that is slowly shown through the game. The Gunk is a story-driven game and the entire game follows a highly linear narrative. Turns out the gunk everywhere is restricting the natural environment and purging it results in an explosion of life in the surrounding area, much like completing a level in Flower. Fortunately, your robotic arm can vacuum it all up, but when you do, things change. Weird bubbly gunk that covers all the energy vents you desperately want to harvest. They’re desperate for a scrap score to pay their mounting bills and land on a planet detecting energy that they might be able to sell to ease their financial woes.Īs Rani, it’s time for you to find the cash and save your ship, but this isn’t the adventure you might expect, because the planet is covered with, well, gunk. You play Rani, member of a small two-person spaceship crew barely scraping by vintage sci-fi fashion.

The gunk multiplayer series#

Now, Steamworld Dig was an utterly fantastic game and the entire series is a cut above, but The Gunk is a significant divergence from anything Image and Form has made before. Today, that’s The Gunk, from veteran indie developer Image and Form Games, makers of the fantastic Steamworld Dig franchise and publisher Thunderful Games, the parent company of Image and Form. Every once in a while though, something sneaks out that you don’t expect.

There just isn’t enough sci-fi content in gaming. I’ve maligned the lack of science fiction games out there several times.