A search for energy brought you here, but the search for the Gardener will keep you here!
#THE GUNK ENCYCLOPEDIA UPGRADE#
During your adventure, you will meet new characters, some friendly and some not, collect resources, solve environment puzzles, and upgrade your abilities. You explore a mysterious alien planet in search of energy and uncover an even more mysterious history. The Gunk is a relatively short action adventure experience. As the adventure progresses both start to see the opposing point of view in a rather heart-warming way.For questions, comments or feedback, please visit the Achievements and Guide Discussion thread. This clash of personalities makes for some good back-and-forth over the radio. Rani is constantly on the hunt for adventure, whereas Becks is grounded in the reality of their monetary situation. Rani and Becks have fantastic rapport, and their friendship is really relatable. One aspect of The Gunk that doesn’t disappoint though is the characters. I was hoping for that Metroid Prime style appeal of scanning throughout my adventure, but less than a couple of hours in I’d practically filled my encyclopedia. After exploring and scanning plants in the first couple of areas you’ll quickly realise you’ve seen a lot of what The Gunk has to show you. Platforming is never really supposed to be a challenge, puzzles blocking your way never require you to do more than growing a mushroom or two, and combat is threadbare at best.Įxploration is certainly compelling to begin with, for sure. While there’s nothing “bad” about the The Gunk, the overall experience just feels a little lacking. If you’re a fan of Image & Form’s Steamworld games, you’re probably coming into The Gunk hoping for interesting mechanics and moreish gameplay. There just really isn’t a lot of need to use them. There are health upgrades and distraction projectiles available to help with dispatching aliens. But even the bigger threats towards the end of the game are pretty easy to deal with. Early on enemies barely register as a nuisance. Waiting for a charging enemy to run into a wall or catching and returning projectiles just doesn’t cut it. Unfortunately none of the baddies are particularly original or exciting to fight. After an hour or so you’ll bump into your first little Gunk-based pest, and later on you’ll find a few others trying to ruin your day. It’s all fairly simple, but is a satisfying way to propel you forward in the adventure.Īlongside all the exploring and collecting, there is combat in The Gunk. Later you’ll get an energy blast that activates long forgotten mechanisms. Early on you’ll unlock the ability to pull seeds and bombs out of the ground to help you progress. Others just make cleaning up Gunk or moving around easier. Once you’ve collected enough metal shards, organic matter and natural fibers, you’ll be able to craft all sorts of upgrades. Scanning and suckingīasic scanning and sucking is all you really need to make your way around the first few areas of the game, but after discovering the ruins of an ancient civilisation and a few ooze based monsters you’ll need to upgrade your arsenal. Every new plant, shroom, and substance you come across can be scanned for more information, and the more you scan the more abilities you can unlock to make exploring easier. When you clear away the slime, though, you’re left in a paradise of bright colours and bizarre fungus. The dark and desolate Gunk infected world feels oppressive and so alien at first. But the real pull is getting to explore more of this mysterious planet.Īlmost immediately you’ll be hit with how atmospheric the world around you is in The Gunk. Maybe you need to climb a vine or create a mushroom staircase. Sometimes you’ll need to jump from platform to platform. The gameplay of The Gunk is relatively simple, and involves you going from area to area cleaning up the titular grime and gathering materials. Upon scanning the puddle Becks discovers it contains a ton of energy, and thus begins an adventure that could end the duo’s money problems for good. After cleaning up some of the disgusting ooze with Rani’s vacuum, the area suddenly bursts alive with beautiful plant life and a pool of liquid appears. When down on their luck space explorers Rani and Becks land on a boring looking planet, they soon discover a mysterious substance they name Gunk and decide to investigate further. Many a Game of the Year list is getting a last minute shake up, and with The Gunk just around the corner, the winter gaming isn’t stopping any time soon. With Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite releasing in November and December respectively, there’s been plenty to play for the many of us with Game Pass subscriptions. It’s been a busy end of the year for Xbox owners.