![]() ![]() While it does offer slight insight into the past of Rani and Becks, as well as how they view each other, it does little more than give exposition on past events. The communication between the characters in a world mostly devoid of life is about the only break from this, and is about as littered with generic sci-fi speak as you can guess. The story and environments are linear, and tend to revolve around the same gameplay loop of: clean gunk, find seed, platform, repeat. After realizing she can eradicate the Gunk and restore the environments to their former glory, Rani takes it upon herself to clean the planet and find not only the source of the signal, but what’s causing the Gunk to spawn as well. While making the initial rounds, she makes contact with the titular Gunk, seemingly draining the environment of all life while simultaneously jamming the communications signal to the ship. When landing, they’re unable to find the signal, so it’s up to Rani and her high powered multi-tool glove to scout out the source of the energy signal. While on a job looking for more junk to sell, they stumble upon a planet with a high energy signal, potentially a source of profit. It may be the case that Thunderful Games sees The Gunk as something so progressive that it didn’t need to make their relationship explicit, but it just comes across as overt queerbaiting.The main premise of the game is nothing new, Rani and Becks are typical low-end space scrappers with not much money to their name. Given recent headlines about other studios, my suspicion is that keeping things blurry makes the game more marketable in regions that are less accepting of gay characters. The fact that it’s so deliberately vague about whether or not they’re in a relationship together feels cowardly. Representation is incredibly important and The Gunk had a great opportunity to put forward two strong and complex queer characters. They’re a wonderfully realized couple, so I find it incredibly disappointing that the game goes to such lengths to obscure the nature of their relationship. I enjoyed watching Rani and Becks overcome obstacles in their relationship and I was moved by how deeply Becks cared for and worried about Rani, particularly at times when Rani ventured into dangerous territory and lost her radio connection to her partner. Their opposing instincts eventually lead to a conflict that’s resolved through empathy and honest communication. Rani’s adventurous spirit leads her to jump first and consider the consequences later, while the level-headed Becks is overly-cautious and fear-motivated. The one aspect I did find inspiring was the relationship between Rani and Becks. Rani succeeds by saving the aliens from themselves - it would be offensive if it wasn’t so cliched. ![]() The source of the gunk is predictable if you’ve played any of the aforementioned games or have ever seen a movie with themes about protecting the environment, and it doesn’t offer a perspective that we haven’t already seen from any number of identical white savior stories. Unfortunately, there’s not much meat on those bones either. While platforming and puzzle-solving are core to the gameplay, The Gunk puts its biggest emphasis on the story and characters. Sucking up gunk at the beginning is the same process as sucking up gunk at the end, and none of the upgrades you unlock add anything useful. There’s a job sim-like gratification that comes from cleaning up globs of goop, but the formula doesn’t evolve at all throughout the game. Some gunk globs can take quite a while to clean up, which I didn’t totally mind because I’m one of those weirdos that likes mopping the floor in home renovation games like House Flipper. It’s certainly satisfying, but the novelty of it wears off quickly, especially considering how many times it's been done before. It's the exact same mechanic we’ve seen in games like Super Mario Sunshine, Flower, Okami, and even this year’s Kena: Bridge of Spirits. Every time you clear out an area, lush greenery instantly sprouts from the ground and paints the world in bright colors. The power glove can suck up giant piles of gunk just like Luigi’s Poltergust sucks up ghosts. Related: Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX Review: A Nostalgic Blast From The Past ![]()
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