The Game Census
The Gunk cover art

The Gunk

Image & Form Games · Thunderful Publishing · 2022-04-29

SteamGOGMicrosoft StoreGame Pass

ActionAdventure

Modes: Single player · Perspectives: Third person

Releases: Dec 16, 2021 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Dec 16, 2021 (Xbox One), Dec 16, 2021 (Xbox Series X|S)

The Gunk is an action-adventure game in which you play as Rani, part of our duo of gritty space haulers. As they’re struggling to bring in funds, they chance upon an untouched planet brimming with life. They came in search of valuable resources, and it looks like they’ve hit the jackpot…

The Gunk is a $24.99 Action and Adventure game released in 2022, with an estimated 100,000 .. 200,000 owners and Very Positive (86% of 6006 reviews).

8
playing now
86%
positive of 6.0k reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
100,000–200,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
66/100
critic score (4 outlets, IGDB)
63/100
IGDB user rating (69 ratings)
2
Nexus mods (1.3k downloads)
5.5h
to beat · rushed 5h · completionist 8h
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Playable
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$24.99
steam price (US)

8 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 14:00 UTC (census sample)

The Gunk is an action-adventure video game developed by Thunderful Development and published by Thunderful Publishing. The game was released on December 16, 2021 for Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X and Series S.

Trailer

The Gunk trailer thumbnail

The Gunk - Official Launch Trailer

≈324,996 YouTube results for this game's trailer search

Health check

Healthy
  • · 8 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 1,465 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~183/week).
  • · Review velocity down 8% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 6% of 27,667 Action games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-27

Estimated sales: 120k–270k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 6,006 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

Steam$2.76-85%
GOG$3.75-85%
GOG$3.75-85%
Microsoft Store$24.99

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $0.74 at GOG (2025-12-11) · bundled 5×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $24.99 · on sale 101 of 155 observed days · $3.01 above the all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
47047020222026Week of 2022-04-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 87 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 88 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 46 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 38 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 37 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 37 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 146 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 19 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 48 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 32 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 73 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 152 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 26 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 74 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 74 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 74 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 49 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 87 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 470 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 72 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 228 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 32 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 152 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 210 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 31 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 111 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 318 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 37 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 269 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 36 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 131 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 28 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 213 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 26 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 131 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 19 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 71 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 70 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 82 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 9 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

2902026-09-14 23:00 — 18 players2026-09-16 08:00 — 19 players2026-09-17 15:00 — 25 players2026-09-18 23:00 — 19 players2026-09-20 06:00 — 16 players2026-09-21 14:00 — 28 players2026-09-22 21:00 — 18 players2026-09-24 05:00 — 17 players2026-09-25 12:00 — 22 players2026-09-26 20:00 — 25 players2026-09-28 03:00 — 12 players2026-09-29 11:00 — 12 players2026-09-30 18:00 — 21 players2026-10-02 02:00 — 3 players2026-10-03 09:00 — 17 players2026-10-04 18:00 — 24 players2026-10-06 01:00 — 10 players2026-10-07 09:00 — 13 players2026-10-08 16:00 — 4 players2026-10-10 00:00 — 4 players2026-10-11 07:00 — 10 players2026-10-12 15:00 — 11 players2026-10-13 22:00 — 8 players2026-10-14 14:00 — 8 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
1123May 2022Aug 2026May 2022 — avg 13 · peak 97Jul 2022 — avg 18 · peak 165Sep 2022 — avg 3 · peak 14Nov 2022 — avg 4 · peak 17Jan 2023 — avg 3 · peak 11Mar 2023 — avg 3 · peak 12May 2023 — avg 9 · peak 35Jul 2023 — avg 6 · peak 22Sep 2023 — avg 3 · peak 15Nov 2023 — avg 5 · peak 17Jan 2024 — avg 24 · peak 70Mar 2024 — avg 16 · peak 49May 2024 — avg 32 · peak 209Jul 2024 — avg 10 · peak 29Sep 2024 — avg 6 · peak 20Nov 2024 — avg 8 · peak 29Jan 2025 — avg 15 · peak 40Mar 2025 — avg 13 · peak 36May 2025 — avg 10 · peak 29Jul 2025 — avg 112 · peak 514Sep 2025 — avg 29 · peak 86Nov 2025 — avg 26 · peak 128Jan 2026 — avg 60 · peak 155Mar 2026 — avg 53 · peak 135May 2026 — avg 20 · peak 55Jul 2026 — avg 17 · peak 39Aug 2026 — avg 12 · peak 29
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Price history

$24.99$0.742022-01-112026-10-142022-01-11 — best price $24.992022-12-21 — best price $24.992023-05-18 — best price $24.992023-11-01 — best price $24.992024-03-21 — best price $24.992024-08-10 — best price $24.992024-10-09 — best price $6.242024-11-19 — best price $6.252024-12-12 — best price $4.992025-01-18 — best price $4.992025-02-21 — best price $4.992025-03-14 — best price $24.992025-05-01 — best price $2.492025-06-03 — best price $4.992025-07-25 — best price $2.432025-08-26 — best price $3.742025-09-29 — best price $1.742025-10-27 — best price $2.502025-11-28 — best price $1.242026-01-12 — best price $1.242026-02-04 — best price $1.242026-03-02 — best price $1.102026-03-25 — best price $24.992026-04-12 — best price $1.252026-05-14 — best price $1.252026-06-11 — best price $24.992026-07-15 — best price $24.992026-08-21 — best price $24.992026-09-03 — best price $4.992026-09-13 — best price $2.762026-09-23 — best price $24.992026-10-03 — best price $3.752026-10-13 — best price $3.752026-10-14 — best price $3.75
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

4752026-05-29 — 24 pageviews2026-06-02 — 18 pageviews2026-06-06 — 15 pageviews2026-06-10 — 22 pageviews2026-06-14 — 5 pageviews2026-06-18 — 30 pageviews2026-06-22 — 20 pageviews2026-06-26 — 12 pageviews2026-06-30 — 14 pageviews2026-07-04 — 34 pageviews2026-07-08 — 47 pageviews2026-07-12 — 27 pageviews2026-07-16 — 19 pageviews2026-07-20 — 23 pageviews2026-07-24 — 24 pageviews2026-07-28 — 11 pageviews2026-08-01 — 19 pageviews2026-08-05 — 17 pageviews2026-08-09 — 20 pageviews2026-08-13 — 13 pageviews2026-08-17 — 24 pageviews2026-08-21 — 19 pageviews2026-08-25 — 11 pageviews2026-08-29 — 17 pageviews2026-09-02 — 21 pageviews2026-09-06 — 22 pageviews2026-09-10 — 15 pageviews2026-09-14 — 20 pageviews2026-09-18 — 9 pageviews2026-09-22 — 12 pageviews2026-09-26 — 17 pageviews2026-09-30 — 14 pageviews2026-10-04 — 13 pageviews2026-10-08 — 12 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Completion

17
achievements tracked
81.9%
earned "First Gunk"
30.7%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsFull controller supportSingle-playerSteam AchievementsFull controller supportSteam CloudFamily Sharing

8 supported languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Japanese, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Xbox Series, Xbox One, Windows (Xbox)31,82412%17
Steam (Steam)4,28925%17

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

SpaceLinearSci-fiColorfulRelaxingAdventureControllerAtmosphericExplorationMetroidvania

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

Don't Knock TwiceTanziaOmensight: Definitive EditionEternity: The Last UnicornA Plague Tale: InnocenceApsulov: End of GodsONINAKITorchlight III

Similarity via IGDB.

Official site ↗Wikipedia ↗