PC Gamer - UK (2021-12)

H

aveyoueverwatchedthosepressure

washerYouTubevideos,whereyoujust

watchdecadesofgrimegetting

satisfyinglyblastedoffabitofdecking

untilitlooksshinyandnewagain?Basicallythat’s

thefeelingdeveloperImage&Formistryingto

evokeinthissci-fiadventure.

plenty of charm and cleverness. You

might ask, why isn’t this game called

SteamWorld: Gunk? The answer is it’s a

collaboration with less known developer

The Station – I&F is providing the game

design and art style, but The Station is

bringing its expertise in animation.

It certainly seems to be working out as

a combo. The alien environments are

absolutely gorgeous, both before and

after cleanup, and there’s a lovely variety

to them – it seems like you barely have

chance to get used to one lush vista

before you discover another. Even the

main character is delightful to look at.

Though human, she has the endearing

proportions of a SteamWorld robot, with a

chunky little body, spindly limbs, and one

huge glove. The way she scampers around

the environment and hops up ledges

makes her seem like she’s having as much

fun as the player.

STICKY SITUATION

There’s more going on here than looks, of

course – cleaning up gunk increasingly

requires some light puzzle-solving and

platforming, as well as combat against the

slime’s angry minions. But our demo

shows it to be a light and probably quite

brief adventure without much challenge.

That is by design, though – Image &

Form wants The Gunk to be both as

accessible as possible and ‘respectful of

the player’s time’, embracing brevity and

variety over difficulty spikes or repetition.

Combined with its calm vibes and gentle

interactions between characters, it looks

like a chill afternoon or two’s gaming in the

making. If you’ve played any of the

SteamWorld games, you’ll know this is one

to watch – they’ve all been excellent at

distilling a genre down to a lovely, light

loop that doesn’t outstay its welcome. The

Gunk looks set to continue that trend in

three dimensions.

Robin Valentine

THE ALIEN

ENVIRONMENTS ARE

ABSOLUTELY

GORGEOUS

NEW

INFO

This game absolutely sucks. But,

er, in a good way

THE GUNK

As plucky but poverty-stricken space

explorer Rani, you discover a planet

seemingly barren save for huge, pulsing,

red-black blobs of the eponymous gunk.

But with your handy power glove you’re

able to suck it all up, allowing lush, green

flora to reclaim the land before your eyes.

Though I’m concerned where all that slime

is actually going, cleaning up the world

looks wonderfully satisfying.

And this developer certainly knows

satisfying. Image & Form is the studio

behind the fantastic SteamWorld games,

each of which boasts its own brilliantly

engaging gameplay loop – along with

TheGunk

PREVIEW

RELEASE

December

DEVELOPER

Image & Form, The Station

PUBLISHER

Thunderful Publishing

LINK

mageform.se/game/the-gunk

NEED TO KNOW Rani and her friend Becks are

trying to pay off the

mortgage on their spaceship.