The Gunk! I feel like the internet had a great ol' time with that name when this game was announced at a 2020 Xbox Showcase but then the game itself kinda came and went back in December 2021, late enough that it missed GOTY for most outlets. I didn't peer too closely at The Gunk at the time either because I'd already made up my mind that I was going to see it for myself—it was the newest game from the SteamWorld people (Image & Form) after all—and wanted to jump into The Gunk fresh like so many Double Dare contestants of old. So it turns out this is what a GameCube fanatic would make with a big enough budget? A game where you visit an alien planet full of wonders and dangers, scanning everything as you go for the various mechanical hints behind their usage or some morsel of lore about the planet's history, combined with a game where you spend a good deal of the time cleaning up sticky goop that's blocking your way forward. All it really needs to complete the set is a spooky mansion and a bunch of little walking vegetables to cart back any found treasures to your spaceship.

But The Gunk is more than just that alone, or at least a little more. Following working-stiff space scavengers Rani and Becks, the duo locate a planet which could potentially solve their money troubles provided they dig up enough raw materials of any value, only to discover a once lush jungle biome corrupted and sucked dry of life by a strange, corrosive, and possibly sentient substance they quickly dub "The Gunk". Rani, the more adventurous of the two, decides to explore further afield making all sorts of discoveries along the way. The Gunk is a mostly linear affair that has you solving environmental puzzles, acquiring resources to use for upgrades, cleaning up The Gunk and fighting off its little minions, and scanning every piece of notable animal, vegetable, and mineral in the vicinity. The scanning is what opens up new upgrade possibilities, but of course you also need the resources to actually build them: most of these are combat-focused, such as extra health or a lure device to distract foes, and the few traversal tools there are tend to be necessary developments to keep the story progression moving along. Beyond that there's a lot of back-and-forth with the pragmatic Becks, whose interest in the planet is only piqued once she discovers a high energy reading that might lead to some fantastic new fuel source they could capitalize on, while using a combination of Rani's robotic arm weapon, her platforming athletics, and her fearlessness to open a path towards the possible source of the energy readings and The Gunk alike.

In some ways the game reminds me of Trine 3. Because that game had decided to make the big move to 3D, it created some issues that necessitated a much shorter run time. This also meant interfering with the usual skill trees of the Trine series as well as a considerable diminishment of puzzle variation. The Gunk is a very svelte six or seven hours in length, but unlike Trine 3 it knew its limitations from the outset and uses what little it has adroitly. There might only be a handful of puzzle types—most tend to involve using native plants that explode or create platforms when combined with pools of glowy green water—but the game finds enough diversity with them to fill out its runtime without too much in the way of padding. Resources are found everywhere but don't regenerate, so it is possible to reach the end of the game without having enough to upgrade everything—since I wanted that achievement, I ended up retracing my steps to see what I'd missed, though I was fortunately only off by a few items—so there's a mild collectathon aspect as you progress through areas, challenging your perception skills to find all the resource-rich nooks and crannies in its 3D environments. Also, for whatever reason, using Rani's robot arm to siphon The Gunk—which is usually depicted as a bubbly, floating, black/red cloud of bad vibes—is oddly satisfying especially as the last trace of it disappears and life suddenly returns to the vicinity, which of course also includes any flora-based platforms you might need to move forward. Even if it is a little compact it's the kind of all-killer, no-filler compact that the Indie sphere excels in.

If there is a weak link in the chain it's the combat. Fortunately, combat sequences are used sparingly and a late-game upgrade more or less trivializes them up to and including the final boss encounter. What tends to be the case is that you're faced with these little bite-y critters that need picking up with your siphon arm and then tossed against the closest solid object to squash them. There are but two other enemy types in the game: an annoying ranged attacker that requires you toss their own projectiles back at them to stun them, and the standard charging beast type that is quickly defeated by finding something solid to stand behind. These fight sequences don't really add much but they exist for the sake of most of your upgrades: I can understand the challenges involved with finding an appealing skill development system without combat, but given how undercooked said combat actually is I'm not sure its inclusion is a net positive. Still, fights are usually over quick and rarely present a challenge, so you just kinda push past them to get back to the game's strengths of the environmental puzzles and exploration.

Overall, I had a great time with The Gunk despite worries that a relative dearth of heralding suggested it was a weaker entry in Image & Form's ongoing streak of excellent output. Its charms are a bit subdued compared to earlier entries, lesser in terms of scope compared to SteamWorld Dig 2 or in mechanical complexity compared to SteamWorld Heist, but it's an appealing little action-adventure that made me nostalgic for the early '00s games it indirectly homages and has a solid presentation to boot that brings a lot of personality to its unnamed alien world. (It did take me a little while to get used to those Garbage Pail Kids-esque character models though.) Curious to see how much longer Image & Form's streak can continue, though I'm hoping it's forever.

Rating: 4 out of 5.