While Rani has two good arms one of them ends in a massive orange robot hand she’s named Pumpkin, and although a little bit broken for finer grasping work, it can still vacuum up pockets of gunk. Of the Bunny’s crew, Becks is the practical one keeping everything running while Rani is more exploratory, and the game opens with her being dropped off to find a suitable landing spot. The Gunk is a sci-fi action platform adventure not so much about cleaning up a planet as discovering what it is that’s being covered and suppressed by the sticky gross mass feeding off its life force.

But why is so much of the planet covered in a pulsating goo? There are a good number of mysteries lost in the planet’s past, and the only way to figure them out is to explore every inch of the world of The Gunk. A wasteland planet kicked out an unusual energy spike, so while it doesn’t seem likely anything is there, a combination of hope and desperation cause them to land anyway to see if there’s something worth harvesting. Even a beater like Becks and Rani’s ship Dust Bunny costs an arm and a leg, and they’re not exactly rolling in cash and fuel. For more on the new game, check out our beginner's guide for The Gunk.If there’s one thing that will be as true in the future as it is today, it’s that space is expensive. The Gunk launches today on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms including its day-one arrival in the Game Pass library. This marks the team's first foray into a 3D game after a half-dozen SteamWorld games have explored genres such as strategy, RPGs, and tower-defense, among others. The Gunk comes from Image & Form, the team behind the popular genre-bending SteamWorld series. New characters will emerge on your journey, while other familiar faces will be seen in new ways in this intimate story of friendship among the stars. The alien planet has a rich history that you'll unravel throughout the game's story as you push back against the game's titular pollutant extraordinaire. More than anything, what The Gunk does well is in its setting and music. This is a rather straightforward action-platformer with some light combat elements.

There are no alternate endings as best we can tell, nor any side missions. There are four kinds of crafting elements, which you can learn more about in our beginner's guide for The Gunk. Alternate title: How much gunk is in the trunk? You'll want to do this, most likely, as crafting all of the game's 15 upgrades will require you to find just about every last collectible resource on the alien planet across the game's eight chapters. The game is mostly quite linear, though there are some optional paths that you can go down in order to find more crafting resources on your travels. How long is The Gunk?Ī single playthrough of The Gunk will take you about 6-8 hours to complete. If you're wondering how long it takes to beat The Gunk, we've run through all it has to offer and can help prepare you for what's ahead.

The Gunk is here to give players on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox (including Game Pass) a brand-new IP to tackle just before the new year. December is usually very quiet on the new release front, and though this year is really no different, the month isn't totally devoid of new games, even now as we cross the halfway point.

The gunk gameplay