The Gunk

 Xbox Series X
User Score
6.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 175 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 98 out of 175
  2. Mixed: 44 out of 175
  3. Negative: 33 out of 175

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  1. Filmanwalt
    Jan 26, 2022
    6
    Charming and short Gamepass game. It took me 4 hours to play the game and I enjoyed the title throughout. It is not intoxicating but very pleasant to play and really chilled. Great melodies, nice and personable style and a good setting by Rani and Becks.

    Both characters work well together and the rest of the world is also nicely presented, the alien language sounds really cool. It    Charming and short Gamepass game. It took me 4 hours to play the game and I enjoyed the title throughout. It is not intoxicating but very pleasant to play and really chilled. Great melodies, nice and personable style and a good setting by Rani and Becks.

    Both characters work well together and the rest of the world is also nicely presented, the alien language sounds really cool.

    It could have been harder in a few places, had a bit more variety in enemies and gameplay, and was a bit trickier overall. Backtracking could also have been incorporated here.
    I could always get rid of the dirt now.

    The base is right, 6/10 smudge blisters.    … Expand
  2. Benzant
    Dec 18, 2021
    6
    boring mechanics that have everything done to be a worthy competitor of Rachet and Clark but it is not another game with progress where you have to take advantage of the inclusion of black skins, he is missing villains and his upgrade system is pointless
  3. chenocorp
    Aug 22, 2023
    5
    Destaca el estilo del planeta a explorar, a nivel de jugabilidad nada nuevo, y con poca elegancia.
  4. mongz79
    Dec 27, 2021
    6
    I'm not sure why there is so much love, or hate for this game. I see a lot of very low scores, because there is no Russian localization or voice acting. I cannot believe that Microsoft has not addressed this issue yet, but this game does not deserve a 0 or 1. Neither does it deserve a 9 or 10. Most games don't. It also takes away from the legitimacy of user scores on this site. I don'tI'm not sure why there is so much love, or hate for this game. I see a lot of very low scores, because there is no Russian localization or voice acting. I cannot believe that Microsoft has not addressed this issue yet, but this game does not deserve a 0 or 1. Neither does it deserve a 9 or 10. Most games don't. It also takes away from the legitimacy of user scores on this site. I don't think most people understand that. This game deserves a 6 or 7 out of ten. I really enjoyed the beginning portion of the game. I don't think the game looks amazing, but I liked how it looked and liked sucking up all of the gunk. But aside from that, the game is very shallow. The characters aren't very fleshed out, and the locations just didn't flow well. Unfortunately, by the end of the game, I was very glad to be done. It had gone from 'pretty cool' to just overstaying its welcome. I'm not sure if a sequel will ever be made,
    but I would wait for reviews before I tried it out. It shows promise, but it falls very short of being memorable with what is currently on offer.    … Expand
  5. notifycritic
    Jun 22, 2023
    7
    Tem uma jogabilidade bacana
    Tem bons gráficos no Séries S Mas acredito que a história poderia ter sido melhor.
  6. SenpaiEXE
    Dec 19, 2021
    5
    One of the most boring games I've played this year. The gameplay feels like Slime Rancher, if you take out the slimes and add a bunch of Ratchet and Clank like abilities, the story, characters and writing is uninteresting and definitely the most boring part about this game. All I can say about this game is; just go play Slime Rancher or a Ratchet and Clank game instead of this.
  7. NextPlayer_it
    Mar 3, 2022
    7
    The Gunk è un titolo che, per quello che offre, possiamo definirlo godibile.
    È un titolo indie che nel suo piccolo si può apprezzare soprattutto per la trama davvero coinvolgente.
    Pecca un po’ nel gameplay dato che non ci sono così tante cose da fare alla fin dei conti, ma rimane un titolo a cui ci si può giocare senza avere grandi aspettative. Risolvere gli enigmi e spazzare via il    The Gunk è un titolo che, per quello che offre, possiamo definirlo godibile.
    È un titolo indie che nel suo piccolo si può apprezzare soprattutto per la trama davvero coinvolgente.
    Pecca un po’ nel gameplay dato che non ci sono così tante cose da fare alla fin dei conti, ma rimane un titolo a cui ci si può giocare senza avere grandi aspettative.
    Risolvere gli enigmi e spazzare via il Gunk restano le cose fondamentali che possiamo fare per salvare il pianeta, rendendo il gioco abbastanza avvincente!    … Expand
  8. Kaykat
    Jan 31, 2023
    7
    I actually enjoyed this game a lot. It's short (around 4hrs) but genuinely fun. I feel like it could have been a bit more challenging in places and there are a few glitches that need sorting out, plus I couldn't manage to get to one hundred percent due to there not being enough resources to upgrade everything fully which feels like a flaw.
  9. Karottedraak
    Jan 6, 2022
    7
    Vacuum cleaner simulator with a great story attached. This game once more made me realise how much a clean artstyle can carry a game. As the gameplay of this game is not much its satisfying and okay to just clean gunk up but most of my enjoyment came straight from the artstyle and story.

    To be honest playing this game as a 23 year old made me sad not having this as a kid. Great game for    Vacuum cleaner simulator with a great story attached. This game once more made me realise how much a clean artstyle can carry a game. As the gameplay of this game is not much its satisfying and okay to just clean gunk up but most of my enjoyment came straight from the artstyle and story.

    To be honest playing this game as a 23 year old made me sad not having this as a kid. Great game for kids but decent and enjoyable for adults.    … Expand
  10. d3uzZ
    Dec 27, 2022
    5
    Симулятор уборщика грязи, один раз пробежать можно
  11. zezeljmare
    Mar 20, 2022
    7
    EN:
    Visually beautiful game, but the mechanics of the game are not overly innovative, and after a while it becomes repetitive. Solid voice acting and storytelling.

    SRB:
    Vizuelno lepa igra, međutim mehanika igre nije preterano inovativna, i posle nekog vremena postaje repetativno. Solidan voice acting i priča.
  12. slaine130177
    Dec 19, 2021
    6
    The Gunk est un petit jeu indé qui ne paye pas de mine mais qui gagne en intérêt au fil de l'eau. Alternant décors un peu fade, avec paysages enchanteurs, le titre reste plutôt maîtrisé avec un 60 fps constant. Toutefois, le titre ne décolle jamais vraiment. Il manque de fun, de folie et d'ingéniosité. On est jamais surpris, c'est bien dommage.
    A cela il faut ajouter une interface (menu)    The Gunk est un petit jeu indé qui ne paye pas de mine mais qui gagne en intérêt au fil de l'eau. Alternant décors un peu fade, avec paysages enchanteurs, le titre reste plutôt maîtrisé avec un 60 fps constant. Toutefois, le titre ne décolle jamais vraiment. Il manque de fun, de folie et d'ingéniosité. On est jamais surpris, c'est bien dommage.
    A cela il faut ajouter une interface (menu) d'un autre âge et une narration en français sympathique, mais manquant d'enjeux.
    Bref, un bon petit jeu sans plus.    … Expand
  13. Kingkaszii13
    Jan 16, 2022
    7
    Dobra gra na jeden dzień ewentualnie weekend, warte do sprawdzenia, sama rozgrywka jest przyjemna i jest dobra odskocznią. Polecam bardzo dla graczy którzy lubią eksplorować
  14. akirakitamura82
    Dec 24, 2021
    6
    Zwar ist das Spiel sehr einseitig und wir müssen immer die gleiche Art Rätsel Lösen und die gleichen Kämpfe bestehen, aber mir machte es trotzdem Spaß sich durch die Level zu bewegen, was vor allem an der genialen Optik liegt, die Farben und Lichteffekte sind Großartig. Die Figuren hätte man etwas besser machen können, sie wirken Teils sehr Steif. Die Story ist okay allerdings etwas zuZwar ist das Spiel sehr einseitig und wir müssen immer die gleiche Art Rätsel Lösen und die gleichen Kämpfe bestehen, aber mir machte es trotzdem Spaß sich durch die Level zu bewegen, was vor allem an der genialen Optik liegt, die Farben und Lichteffekte sind Großartig. Die Figuren hätte man etwas besser machen können, sie wirken Teils sehr Steif. Die Story ist okay allerdings etwas zu Lahm erzählt, zumindest kam es bei mir so rüber. Auch ist das Spiel teils sehr unübersichtlich und man verläuft sich gerne mal in den Arealen. In den ganz dunklen Level, kann es auch mal vorkommen, dass wir den Schleim, wenn es nur noch ein ganz kleiner Fleck ist, übersehen. Nichtsdestotrotz spielt sich The Gunk
    sehr gut, die Steuerung klappt hervorragend. Es ist zwar Relativ Kurz, aber für den Preis macht man nichts verkehrt, zwar hätte ich mir etwas mehr Abwechslung gewünscht, aber es ist definitiv ein Spiel, das man gemütlich sonntags durchzogen kann. Von mir 6/10    … Expand
  15. Blizzard77
    Dec 17, 2021
    7
    It's a good game to relax to clean up the world and see it grow and it's on game pass so must play!
  16. FrAgNuS
    Dec 19, 2021
    7
    Really enjoyable game. Love the artistic direction. Very quaint game. It is crazy that 90% of the negative reviews are calling for Russian language option. Seems to be a big ask across a lot of different games.
  17. SamM2104
    Feb 23, 2022
    7
    I finished this in December but have to say that it was an enjoyable story with good mechanics. However, although the mechanics and physics may be cool, I don’t believe they used the mechanics to their full potential.
  18. RobPlaysGames
    Mar 13, 2022
    5
    Aggressively average in every regard. The core gameplay loop barely evolves past the beginning of the game, upgrades are so shallow they had to make the ability to run unlockable, the characters are bland at best and obnoxious the rest of the time, and there is zero challenge to be found in the puzzles, platforming or combat; the only time I got briefly stuck in the entire game was whenAggressively average in every regard. The core gameplay loop barely evolves past the beginning of the game, upgrades are so shallow they had to make the ability to run unlockable, the characters are bland at best and obnoxious the rest of the time, and there is zero challenge to be found in the puzzles, platforming or combat; the only time I got briefly stuck in the entire game was when you are dropped in a featureless wasteland and essentially have to guess the direction to walk in.

    Expected much better from the Steamworld devs.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

66
#66 Best Xbox Series X Game of 2021
21
#21 Most Discussed Xbox Series X Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
70

Mixed or average reviews - based on 41 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 41
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 41
  3. Negative: 1 out of 41
  1. Movies Games and Tech
    May 6, 2022
    60
    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.
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  2. CGMagazine
    Feb 2, 2022
    75
    Though it doesn't have all the perks and features of bigger games, The Gunk remains gorgeous and engaging. A short but sweet adventure full of puzzles and fantastic scenery.
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  3. Games.cz
    Jan 13, 2022
    70
    The creators of the Steamworld universe stepped out of their comfort zone for the first time - and it’s a solid step indeed. The Gunk is visually stunning and its central mechanism, vacuuming the titular substance off the ground, is really well done. The combat, though, is disappointing, as is the progression system.
    Read full review
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