a90skid.com
  • Shop
  • Reviews
  • Shop
  • Reviews
0
A 90s Kid
  • Shop
  • Reviews

If there’s something I admire the most about indie games, its the usual commitment to unique concepts and gameplay ideas.  Big budget studios fund big budget ideas, and while all the guns and mayhem can be fun, it’s sometimes more interesting to ponder the less viewed aspects of gaming.  For example, what happens to all the dead bodies and evidence after you’ve laid a path of destruction?  Serial Cleaner might not be that literal, but it embraces the idea well enough to evoke these kind of themes.  That’s because in Serial Cleaner, you clean up all the bloody bits that remain when the shooting is over.

Serial Cleaner Title

Serial Cleaner for Serial Killers

Serial Cleaner is similar in style to games like Hotline Miami.  Both in its bright and vibrant visuals to its story driven progression, Serial Cleaner borrows quite a bit of mojo from Hotline.  The game still has its own flavor of charm, and thankfully feels like a great homage rather than a rip-off.  Developer iFun4All does a great job tipping the hat while keeping its own identity and tone.  Serial Cleaner is dark, funny, and unique, all traits of publisher Curve Digital, who have also released games like Manuel Samuel and Human Fall Flat.

Serial Cleaner Home
Home, sweet home.

Tales of Bob

Serial Cleaner follows Bob, a cleaner who lives with his mother.  The mother and son duo share interests in some of the simpler things in life (like boxing), and Bob carries a penchant for gambling.  As a cleaner, Bob receives calls from clients detailing grisly crime scenes.  It’s his job to visit the scene and remove any evidence, bodies, and blood that’s left over.  After completing each stage, we get a brief glimpse into Bob’s life at home and the world around him.  This information is gathered through dialogue with his mother, watching the television, listening to the radio, and more.

Bob’s personal narrative takes a backseat for roughly the first half of the game, first delivering somewhat cliche scenarios.  Italian mobsters, debts, gambling addiction, etc.  Around the halfway point, the game takes an interesting turn in terms of story that I definitely won’t spoil.   This narrative flip strengthens both the level designs and gameplay motivation, and I found it refreshing.  Unfortunately, the game’s story ends abruptly, and I felt like the game was over just as I truly started to get attached to the characters.

Serial Cleaner Cinematic

To Cover Up a Murder

The story is ultimately a nice container for addictive and interesting gameplay.  As a murder maid, each level will require you to complete numerous tasks.  These usually include picking up and disposing of bodies, cleaning up blood splatter, and finding pieces of evidence.  Your progress is always impeded by patrolling police officers and enemies.  By studying their patterns and utilizing the game’s various shortcut, hiding spot, and distraction mechanics, you become a stealth master.  Personally, I’m not a huge fan of stealth games.  Serial Cleaner makes the tedious act of stalking much more enjoyable by injecting some action into the mix.

Serial Cleaner Crime Scene

Serial Cleaner embraces the wackier side of stealth games; messing up and dashing for safety.  Hiding spots work as “safe havens”, protecting you from being caught regardless of whether or not an enemy can see you.  Running across pools of blood increases your movement speed, and turning sharp corners confuses enemies.  For these simple reasons, messing up a sneaky approach doesn’t ruin the game, despite its one-hit-fail difficulty.  If you’re detected while trying to carry a body, simply dropping it to the floor and dashing to the nearest hiding spot is a viable solution.  This often results in multi-enemy chases across the map, just barely out of their grasp while careening off pools of blood.

Serial Sense

Getting grabbed or hit by an enemy causes an instant restart, which also changes up body and evidence locations.  This can be frustrating on later levels, but finishing a particularly lengthy level does have a satisfying feeling consistently.  Due to Bob’s excellent cleanup skills, he has “cleaner sense”, an ability which zooms out the entire map and allows you to see important details of the map.  This is an unlimited power and can be used at any time without restriction, making quick strategic decisions easy.  Unsure of enemy locations in the next few rooms?  Hop into a hiding spot or find a cozy corner and use cleaner sense.

Serial Cleaner Serial Sense

The Bottom Line on Serial Cleaner

Serial Cleaner is not only a fun and inventive concept, but also full of charm and intrigue.  Besides the surprisingly interesting narrative, the game asserts its quirky attitude and referential personality into a lot of mechanics.  Stage names are all thematic; sometimes based on real life serial killers.  Bonus contracts and silly costumers are rewarded in the form of in-game collectibles.  Each bonus contract is based off of a popular film, with one of my favorites being an Alien inspired cleanup.  The main game won’t take you too long, depending on your patience and skill.  Most players can expect to wrap it up in 3-6 hours.  However, Serial Cleaner contains plenty of extra missions, collectibles, achievements, and speed running potential to keep you cleaning.  It can be frustrating at times and a tiny bit clunky, but this is one time I don’t mind cleaning up other people’s messes.

Rating: 8.75/10

Total
12
Shares
Share 12
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Related Topics
  • Devolver Digital
  • hotline miami
  • ifun4all
  • Indie Dev
  • serial cleaner
  • stealth
Matthew Owen

I'm a life long gamer and an overall media junkie. In addition to writing great articles like this, I host a gaming/comedy podcast called "Super Gamecast 64" available on iTunes and Stitcher. I also watch an unhealthy amount of movies, and try to spread as much love into the world as I can. Hope you enjoyed the content!

You May Also Like
View Post
  • 5 min
  • Opinion
  • PlayStation
  • PlayStation 5
  • Review
  • Xbox Series X

Hogwarts Legacy Review – Wizard’s Creed

  • Matthew Owen
  • March 3, 2023
SpongeBob Riding a Seahorse
View Post
  • 3 min
  • Opinion
  • PC
  • PlayStation
  • PlayStation 4
  • Review
  • Xbox
  • Xbox One

SpongeBob Squarepants: The Cosmic Shake Review – Back to Bikini Bottom

  • Matthew Owen
  • January 31, 2023
God of War Ragnarok Eclipse Scene
View Post
  • 5 min
  • Opinion
  • PlayStation
  • PlayStation 4
  • PlayStation 5
  • Review

God of War Ragnarok Review – Once More Unto the Breach

  • Matthew Owen
  • December 28, 2022
View Post
  • 5 min
  • Opinion
  • PlayStation
  • Review
  • Xbox
  • Xbox Series X

The Callisto Protocol Review – Sci-Fi Gore Galore

  • Matthew Owen
  • December 20, 2022
Return to Monkey Island Title Card
View Post
  • 4 min
  • News
  • Nintendo
  • PC
  • PlayStation
  • Review
  • Xbox

Return to Monkey Island Review – A Pirate’s Life for Me

  • Matthew Owen
  • December 10, 2022
The four teenage mutant ninja turtles
View Post
  • 5 min
  • Nintendo
  • Opinion
  • PC
  • PlayStation
  • PlayStation 4
  • PlayStation 5
  • Review
  • Xbox
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X

TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection Review – Pizza Time

  • Matthew Owen
  • September 16, 2022
Destroy All Humans Crypto
View Post
  • 5 min
  • PC
  • PlayStation 5
  • Review
  • Xbox Series X

Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed Review – Summer of ’69

  • Matthew Owen
  • September 6, 2022
ESO High Wood Idol
View Post
  • 5 min
  • PC
  • PlayStation 4
  • PlayStation 5
  • Review
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X

The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle Review – A Knightly Vacation

  • Matthew Owen
  • July 22, 2022

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe

Subscribe now to our newsletter

A90KID.COM

VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY & ENTERTAINMENT

A 90s Kid is an active website and media channel, dedicated to providing you information and entertainment related to the video games industry

Navigation
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Refund and Returns Policy
Recent Articles
  • All about FIFA 2026 – Dates, Hosts, and More March 16, 2023
  • Hogwarts Legacy Review – Wizard’s Creed March 3, 2023
  • First Look at the New Spooky Scooby Doo Pinball Machine February 10, 2023
  • SpongeBob Squarepants: The Cosmic Shake Review – Back to Bikini Bottom January 31, 2023
  • How competitiveness drives gamers to be better January 27, 2023
A 90s Kid
© 2022

Input your search keywords and press Enter.