Chris- 0 Comment
- September 27, 2022
Serial Cleaners is the follow-up to the successful Draw Distance Serial cleaner, It was a stylish 2D top-down game, where you had to dodge the vision cones of the cops to be successful. The follow-up Serial cleaners completely redesigned how the game is played by first changing the perspective of the game to this beautiful 3D isometric view with classic 90s aesthetics that match the game’s vibe. Not only is the whole visual aspect changed by also adding different playable characters, but each with their abilities also makes for such a good time.
" Stylish, Bloody And Simple fun "
In Serial Cleaners the first step to keep the game fresher than the previous title, Is to add multiple characters for you to sink the teeth into this time, each character comes with their own ability and story giving more dynamics, not only in terms of gameplay but the story itself. If you have played the first game Serial Cleaner, you all will remember Bob well he is back and taking on the mentor role. Next up we have Lati, A street girl who dabbles in the world of parkour, We also have Psycho Well his name speaks for himself he “kinda” gets carried away and causes even more problems than the situation you are currently in. Last but not least we have Vip3r the hacker of the group, who uses her knowledge to create distractions and her small physique to crawl through vents creating new routes.
So how does a group of body disposers, who work for the mob all know each other and get in that line of work? Well, that is where the story takes you. The game takes you through multiple chapters, where the gang is reminiscing on how they came to meet, and their best “jobs”. They are all a crazy bunch of people that you can’t help but love. Bob just wants to escape the mob and care for his sick mother, but he can’t seem to escape the grasp, no matter how hard he tries, even going as far as to take on legit jobs. Psycho was supposed to disappear, as he created more of a mess for the mob than he was worth until bob took him under his wing. I was really into the story but with just snippets in cinematics and a paragraph before each job telling you their stories, I could not get enough and it left me wondering more and more about each of their messed-up lives.
The core gameplay loop of Serial Cleaners is a very straightforward one, the mob has made a mess and your job is to clean it up for them. Each mission involves completing a certain amount of objectives, cleaning blood, while removing the evidence and bodies. Armed with nothing but your trusty vacuum cleaner you will have to sneak by the cops and get to work. The gameplay does add a variation to the missions when you change characters, in the form of abilities making you change how you tackle the mission.
Ahh good old bob the simplest of the cleaners wants to keep it simple and to the point, so he will just let you wrap the bodies, so at least when you drag the bodies it will not leave more of a blood trail for you to have to come back and clean up after.Vip3r the hacker lets you, turn off light switches causing distractions for the guards, and with the ability to access vents it can change up the whole way you take on the mission.
For me, two characters stood out Pyshco and Lati, both for different reasons but also they are just the ones that make the missions more fun. Lati can use her parkour skills around the map so you can send the cops on a wild good chase as you jump over counters and block them in so they have to go around the long way. It makes you total creative freedom over the pathing you would normally choose and makes the game feel more immersive. When it came to Pyscho he was just sheer fun to play with, with his ability to be able to dispose of bodies by taking his chainsaw to them and making them into limbs, the fun part comes if i cop spots you chopping up a body the will pass out, even allowing you to grab them with his superhuman strength and locking them in cupboards and stuff. Out of them all, he is played more differently as sometimes it is best if you cause a lot of noise because it benefits you for your outcome rather than stealth.
You can take whatever path you want in the game, may it be stealthy detailed cleaning making sure you get every last bit of blood, or if you run around the map knocking down the cops in a chaotic fashion. The game has a very sandbox approach to how you take on the missions and is very forgiving if you get caught, you will load back in where your last checkpoint was(the last piece of evidence put in the car), with this sense of freedom I found myself just really having more fun each missions trying new styles and strategies.
While the game may seem to have some sort of repetitiveness to it, that is all in the charm of it, with a short game giving you a burst of fun. You will surely enjoy it, its silly, yet smart and enjoyable games that make you smile are the best ones and this one does out of the sheer stupidity of the context of the game. Who knew cleaning could be so fun?
- Who Knew Cleaning Could Be So Fun!8
Serial Cleaners is definitely a step up from the previous title, Featuring an all new art style, more characters and awesome abilities. Now you can have so much fun messing about in some chaotic fashion.