We often take for granted the dirty work which needs to be done in everyday life. From those who keep public parks clean and tidy to those who make sure that train station bathrooms are shiny and free of all manner of class A drugs. But then there are even dirtier jobs, which include blood, guts, body parts and incriminating evidence that could see goons like Tony Soprano locked away for a long time. So, income the Serial Cleaners here to vacuum up the blood, dispose of the bodies and throw away all that vital evidence any CSI buff would love.
So, does the sequel manage to up the ante? Read on.
What is Serial Cleaners?Serial Cleaners is the sequel to the 2017 stealthy crime caper clean-up “Serial Cleaner”, which now focuses on the lives of 4 professional crime scene clean-up artists throughout the blazing 1990s. We take on the roles of veteran cleaner Bob (star of the first game) and three other cleaners, Viper, Psycho and Lati as they reminisce on the eve of the new Millennium about their various jobs throughout the 90s. Each takes a turn to tell their story of how they came into becoming Serial Cleaners and their most successful jobs cleaning up the mess for various mob hits, murder sprees and even their own misfortunes.
Players will take control of each cleaner and play out the events of the story being told, taking place in a number of locations from snow-covered farms, inner city super stores, morgues, drug dens and many more cool setups for crime scenes. You’ll be sleuthing around each crime scene collecting evidence, bagging bodies, and cleaning up blood trails in some of the most gruesome crime scenes seen in any game (just imagine the aftermath of any action/shooter video game and you’re the guy cleaning up about people cleaning up crime scenes…
A dab of cold water and soap will remove blood from anywhere
Serial Cleaners has an undeniable charm to it, and a concept which is fantastic. Instead of making the bodies, breaking glass, and unloading the lead, you’re the clean-up crew and have to do it with some urgency. This reminds me a lot of “Viscera Clean-up Detail: Shadow Warrior” where you would have to clean up the bloody aftermath which you caused in the main game and do so with various tools and gadgets. But Serial Cleaners does add in some urgency and risk, as you’re doing it for very unsavoury folks and the setting reflects more the moral consequences of modern society. I.e cleaning up the evidence so that bad people can get away with murder is wrong in the real world.
As a cleaner of crime scenes, you’ll be expecting the law to be snooping around, looking for that all-important evidence to lock away the bad guys (i.e. your bosses). So, you got to be quiet, you have to be sneaky and most important, be handy with that vacuum cleaner that makes blood disappear!
You’ll be controlling all four cleaners as they take on various jobs seen in flashbacks over the 1990s. Each cleaner has their own skills allowing them some advantage over the environment or the enemies that patrol the crime scenes they need to clean. The main objectives in each crime scene will usually revolve around disposing of bodies, collecting incriminating evidence and clearing up as much blood as possible, before making your getaway.
The cleaners are not fighters and cannot disarm or kill any NPCs in the area. So, you’ll have to stay out of sight, be patient and not be seen at all costs. Each cleaner can perform a special action or two, allowing them to clean up quicker in some way. Psycho for example can dismember bodies with a chainsaw and dispose of them in nearby meat grinders and such. Viper is a master hacker and can blow out the lights, disorienting nearby guards. And Lati can jump fences and lure NPCs away from hotspots by spraying painting a tag on the floor. But most important of all, they can whip out a vacuum cleaner for all that blood!
And that’s about it! A simple concept that really has an immense amount of potential, and one that is visually pleasant at most times and has a lot of good writing behind its world and characters.
Cleaning up a bloody mess
Now I love Stealth games and have been hankering for another one since there haven’t been many great Stealth games over few years (aside from Styx master of shadows, Wildfire and Alien Isolation). And thankfully, for the most part, Serial Cleaners does a good job with its stealth gameplay, as it finds that right balance of player patience along with risk and reward… for the most part.
Players will have to explore the environment for advantage points, wait for enemies to pass by so they can make their move and utilise those particular skills to either get out of a sticky situation or ensure an opening comes about for you to clean up. Evading the watchful eyes of enemies is also a must, along with not rising suspicion by leaving doors open which weren’t before, or the removal of evidence and bodies (as those would be worth noticing when they go missing). And of course, keeping the noise down when using your vacuum to hover up blood (that’s so weird, yet I love the idea itself).
I was quite surprised at the awareness of enemies in the game and how well they would spot even the smallest change in the environment. Normally in stealth games, you can leave a door open, and no one notices. But the developers clearly took notes from the classic Thief games and used those notes well. I like how moving certain bodies can leave even more blood trails, unless you bag them up, and noise plays out as an important stealth mechanic. This includes using radios and other environmental gadgets to make noise and become distractions to lure guards away from where you need to be. There are some great ideas here and the AI is quite well-rounded.
Time for a career change?
Where Serial Cleaners lets itself down is by not pushing even further with some of these ideas.
While there are some solid stealth gameplay mechanics in action, there is little else to heighten the intensity of the situation, and few other tactics to make cleaning up exciting. In most games, there is escalation, think of the Batman: Arkham series, where each encounter raises the stakes and brings in new elements, threats, and advantages. Serial Cleaners sadly does very little when introducing new ideas and mechanics to heighten the overall experience.
Now each cleaner has their own skill or two to help in a tough situation, but otherwise, there is very little in the environment they can use to overcome a problem. That is, other than to hide, wait and be extremely patient. There are no new skills to learn, and you can’t choose your cleaner for any of the missions. It could have been nice to allow any cleaner to be played in each level, opening multiple routes, and actions and adding a lot of replay value. Instead, each mission feels restricted and limited in what you can truly achieve. Having a Skill Tree in video games might seem like a bore nowadays, but when used right, it can open up massive gameplay potential. And I feel it could have been massively beneficial here.
I felt moving bodies was an absolute tedious task in most missions, as often enough you must move multiple of them over great distances (to the getaway car usually) and not utilise the environment for shortcuts or ease of moving. So, you’ll end up carrying a heavy body slowly while evading detection through the same route over and over. Disposing of bodies became very tedious by the end, especially as there aren’t really any other types of mission objectives. I was thinking to myself “Why not have the ability to make an acid bath to dissolve bodies?”. The closest thing you get is Psycho who can dismember bodies, but why can’t anyone else grind up a body?
Even when there are environmental advantages to use, these usually don’t buy a lot of time and you’ll properly use them repeatedly too, making the task highly repetitive.
One of the biggest problems for Serial Cleaners is its forgiving nature. Being caught feels like a light slap on the wrist, as you start from the checkpoint/last save and you can continue with no worries. Even when the police are called in for backup after you’re spotted, they tend to stand outside the main crime scene and just wait.
I originally liked the idea that you can’t knock out guards, as it would add an extra layer of challenge, but soon enough this positive faded out since there was no way to incapacitate NPCs, aside from slide kicking them when you get spotted, hiding in a vent or just distracting them by throwing an object. These are okay methods of evasion, but factor in the repetition of moving bodies and backtracking, and these limited actions again became an annoyance. Not being able to knock out guards usually means having to wait multiple times, venturing back and forth multiple times, and repeating the old actions within a short space of time.
I can firmly say that the gameplay loop is solid for Serial Cleaners, but it doesn’t evolve over time and this is its biggest issue. Some games don’t need to evolve if the gameplay loop is incredibly fun (like Halo), but for a game like this, the gameplay loop needs to be dynamic and change things up as the campaign progresses.
The Cleaner has feeling too … 
From a story perspective, there is a lot of good writing here and it’s a massive step up from the previous game. Bob’s back story is shown through multiple flashbacks and unravels a deep-rooted tragedy that gives him a strange likability. Each cleaner has a likability to them, whether they’re quiet and reserved, but an outrageous killing machine. Or a quick-witted ’90s hacker whose isolation in her young life has created an undying bond with a clean-up crew. Or a down to Earth mother figure who wants nothing more than the best for her family.
While the framing device is nothing new, looking back at “wholesome” memories of the clean-up crew is oddly charming and the general pacing is quite good, leading up to some interesting events later on.
The visual presentation is quite nice, if not a little full with random imagery popping up on the screen. But again, Serial Cleaners is a step up from the previous game, with sharp visuals, nice detailing and quirky simplistic touch that really is quite delightful (considering the gruesome themes). There are many notes taken from the era it’s based on, with low poly-looking characters, subtle details and bright colours, much akin to a classic PSone game. Serial Cleaners kind of looks like how you would remember a PSone game looking, much better than it is. And Serial Cleaner’s deep-rooted charm does indeed give thanks to the quirky visual style.
Plus, the developers have made sure to include some good accessibility options, allowing as many players to view the game world to its fullest, allowing you to clean up with ease. That’s always a massive plus in my books! I will add that having an isometric view will take some getting used to, and personally I’m not a massive fan of stealth games with this camera view. But Serial Cleaners gives enough space for players to learn and feel comfortable with how the word is seen and interacted with.
Although the looping music, can become grating, to the point I muted it, and the numerous visual popups are again a little jarring and unnecessary.
OverallI do recommend Serial Cleaners, to fans of the original game. For those new to the series, it’s worth checking out. But keep in mind that while there are some great ideas in the stealth gameplay and concept, there are quite a few missed opportunities here. Serial Cleaners does add a few new dynamics to the original formula, but not enough to push the neat concept’s full potential. With the solid stealth mechanics, decent story and neat visual design, are plenty of missed chances of great, immersive gameplay, and the tedium of limited interactions, choice and mission objectives does hold back Serial Cleaners from being one of the most original and innovated stealth games on the market.
A decent game worth checking out, but nothing worth dying for.
++ Really neat concept and interesting gameplay mechanics
+ Visual style is pretty cool
+ Decent stealth mechanics and level design
-- Little developments in gameplay and escalation
- Tedious mission objectives
- Little replay value
An Xbox review key of Serial Cleaners was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
