Analysis of The Gunk

Nice and fun, The Gunk does not reinvent the wheel, but its proposal contains a firm rhythm and a charismatic narrative.

Generally I usually start these texts with a reflection that is in line with some striking aspect of the game that we bring between hands. Today, no, of course. Today it touches something else, let's say, Goal. And not only because it is opening a fire with a reference to how to find the process of creating these words of words but because, unlike many other occasions, in the title of this title — sorry — there is room for scraping... if we try to Translate it into Spanish. Although the gunk could well baptize it as the dirt or the poison, the problem arises when we stop at the nuances that contain both words. Something grimy entails greasy and dirty qualities, while the Solution's Pollinate, is harmful and / or destructive to life. So things, the substance that will compared for its respects throughout The Gunk, will it be poisonous, or will it be a griming? Of that and much more we will take care of in this text full of adventures, color, drama, comedy, black genre, procedural, political intrigue and as many other genres. Well, not so much.

Basic information

Developer: Image & Form Editor: Thunderous Platforms: X / S Series, One, PC Proven version: X Series Availability: 12/16/2021

The Gunk is the first foray in the three-dimensional worlds of Image & Form, the Swedish company responsible for the Steam world Universe, whose latest incarnation, Steam world Quest: Hand of Gilgamesh, I had the pleasure of analyzing for this holy house. So things, the 2D is not the only thing that Image & Form has left aside in its new adventure, since The Gunk is also not part of that universe that has marked the evolution of the study for so many years. Thus, this time we will follow the steps of Ran and Beck, two spatial entertainment that are dedicated to touring the universe to hunt any component susceptible to being sold. And although they make you a lot of desire to your futuristic scrapbook, it is not much fortune that accompanies them... until, without prior notice, a promising signal leads them to an unknown planet and take land on it with high, very high Expectations for your Results Account.

This, as you will have imagined, is a major error of judgment because, far from receiving them with abundant resources, the surface of the planet is soon revealed as a mysterious place in which a viscous substance adheres to plants, soil and everything that is Cross your path alike. From here will be in our hands to discover what that gelatinous file is, how it has come to expand so much and what are we going to do with it.

As it could not be otherwise, that dark and textured dirt — Intuyo-Gomosa has great weight in the artistic section of The Gunk. Well because of his presence, either by the contrast that his absence generates, the truth is that that amalgam of brown and red tones marks the passage of an aesthetic that moves with the same ease in the somber and the colorist. Removing dirt generates a great satisfaction in the playable that is reinforced in the visual, with landscapes full of color and life in which enlightenment is handled magically and the plants rejust with authority when we get the cloth to stop stealing space. Ran and Beck, our heroines, enjoy a stylized design that drinks from a style Cartoon, which enhances the most expressive elements and likes to include pleasant details for the attentive eye. However, some rigidity in their expressions lasted to modeling and animations that, in the rest of sections, lack any failure. In similar terms, sections such as dubbing or soundtrack are handled, both exceptional and that reinforce both the environments that we will travel as the fantastic and interesting relationship that the protagonists maintain.

Because they will be these who take the singing voice of the unlikely period that will be revealed before us. Already in the first measures of the story it will be clear that Beck will adopt a much more cautious position at the situation that Ran, whose explorer and adventurer spirit will push him to tie the blanket at his head and begin to aspire dirt as if they were to ban. For so ungrateful — at oddly satisfying — task, Ran will feature his faithful robotic arm, a kind of multi-purpose tool that will soon do the fauna scanner, flora and objects that populate our surroundings — providing information and unlocking Interesting improvements — how to aspire everything that is put in front of you. But not only to emulate Luigi's Mansion will live Ran. While the dynamics of absorbing huge best viscosity masses will occupy a good part of our time, we will also have to book part of our energies to collect resources, carefully observe our surroundings and explore the surface of the planet. Only then can we face with guarantees to the multiple situational puzzles that will come to the junction and that, without being obtuse, they will require us to pay attention to their visual tracks. As it is logical, according to progress, the narrative will advance the complexity of some enigmas in which the usual ingenious mechanisms, platform or, why not, thrill plants that exploit.

By adding these mechanics a worked design of levels — so care that you do not need more markers in the HUD than those who use the Ran itself — and the combat brushstrokes that appear from time to time, the final result is a careful and satisfactory experience which has a firm pulse rate. This, however, must be part of its success to the fantastic characterization work behind Ran and Beck; Its colorful exchanges, how they face their problems or the impeccable interpretation that sustains them are a fundamental part of the development of a title that would become gray and lack of soul without them.

Ultimately, The Gunk is a simple adventure title full of charism, who knows what their strengths are and strong bet for them. But it is convenient not to confuse simplicity with simplicity; While the dynamics of the adventure is clear from the first compasses of the game, it is its cunning and precise combination of history, mechanical, dialogues and scenarios, which pushes us to know more about everything surrounding this world impregnated with that sticky slime. However, it is inevitable to repair in a couple of asperities that arise when the world of The Gunk's world: an improvable expressiveness in our protagonists or some fighting, alleged, dispensable is all that can be reproached to a title that, by The rest, it leads impeccably. And is that even though The Gunk is not a technical mastodon or a full title of thousands of innovative mechanics — and neither does it intend it —, its balanced mix of puzzles, narrative and aspirations make it a proposal whose development never stumbles. But... a moment, in the end we have clarified if the substance was Grumman or poisonous? What a pity, we have not stayed space, you will have to play The Gunk.