During gamescom 2022, I had the opportunity to test Serial Cleaners on its first two levels. Subsequently, I had the opportunity to play the final version and finish it in about ten hours, enough to give you a complete and well-kept overview. Put on your gloves, and let's clean it all up!
Graphics & atmosphere
In a very particular style with its angular characters and its 80's side, VHS filters for the moments of memories which come to counterbalance the rather dark and tragic atmosphere of the story, we obtain an ingenious mix which sends us into varied settings. The still grim and grubby vibe is still there, however, to introduce us to what the game is all about: you're cleaning up crime scenes with unsavory people.
On the soundtrack side, it will depend on your current character, but you are never disappointed, and it fits perfectly with the mood of the moment. Not exceptional enough to be unforgettable, but certainly good enough to have a good time. Another nice thing: the RWD system that will change the times and climate of certain crime scenes for you based on real-world data.
History
You start with Bob, the Cleaning Maestro, who carries with him a fairly common history that many people could relate to (minus the cleaning aspect), while other characters have a particularly murky and dramatic history. These sad fellows get together on Christmas Eve telling each other their more or less dangerous or twisted cleaning stories, starting with how Bob recruited each of them, until the end of the story (in one about ten hours) which will be, believe me, very dark.
Gameplay
Each character has their own unique (or dirty for Hal) abilities and skills, but each will have the same objective: to make the evidence disappear and clean up the crime scene, even if sometimes... the objectives are out of line with these nails.
- Bob will be able to slide on the blood, which will give him very useful speed during chases. But his most interesting ability will remain that of wrapping bodies so as not to leave blood trails during transport.
- Hal will be able to cut up the bodies with a chainsaw, and knock out any cops (who aren't on high alert) who see him do it. In addition, when throwing (evidence or bits of corpse) at a target, he will automatically stun him, which will allow him to put them during the rest of the scene in places of detention. Very practical in itself.
- Lati is one of the most promising, having the ability to jump over obstacles such as fences, ledges in addition to being able to move relatively heavy objects such as garbage containers (you know the big green metal things on wheels). Or the ability to be able to detain the police temporarily with "Fuck Police" graffiti.
- Viper, the featherweight of the group, has the big flaw of not being able to carry the bodies, only to drag them. But to overcome this, it can slip into the conduits (by unscrewing them) to have shortened paths or quick hiding places. She can also hack devices such as speakers, streetlights or cameras to disable them, make them act strangely etc... in order to attract the attention of enemies. And his admiration for Bob allows him to also have the ability to wrap bodies...
Each mission will be played with one of the characters above, or sometimes two who will take turns to help each other or compensate for the weaknesses of one or the other. It's kind of funny to see end-of-mission dialogue between Hal and Lati, completely surreal in a sitcom studio. The synergy is really good, like the Lati/Viper duo in a building full of cameras and areas under construction, which will give everyone the opportunity to shine in complementarity.
The end goal in general will be to suck up enough blood with your vacuum cleaner, collect the evidence, and dispose of the bodies before fleeing through the indicated exit. Although sometimes you'll just have to steal evidence or just escort some messed up NPCs before clearing the area. Everything runs smoothly, with auto-saving when you get rid of a body or evidence, or the ability to manually save to a certain location (often the starting location) so you don't lose your progress if you get caught by the police, who will have three levels of alert, ranging from the truncheon to the point pistol at the strongest (see assault weapon) to stop you as quickly as possible if you have the maximum search.
Summary
Serial Cleaners is a game full of dark humor, macabre scenes and a tragic atmosphere that will require a lot of practicality, infiltration and strategy to complete your missions. All wrapped up in a gory coating that is likely to be quite shocking for the youngest (hence its PEGI 16), with a certain twist that attempts to water down the drama unfolding before us with colors and a style that will succeed. partially to hold this feat. I highly recommend it, as long as you like the style, and have 10 hours (approximately) to spare.
Serial Cleaners sur l'Epic Games Store
