Serial Cleaner

Serial Cleaner is a decent little stealth game.
It is basically "Hotline Miami" meets "PowerWash Simulator".
We get 20 levels that only grown more difficult, but that results in the becoming more akin to puzzles.
I didn't think much of it, but it was surprisingly cozy.
The good thing was the campy 70s story, aesthetic and music :D
The bad was clearly the absolutely DUMB AI that made cops behave like Looney Tunes cartoons :P
People complain that they have to restart on death but the game is very easy and short.
(What you want? Six checkpoints for a 2 minute mission? gtfo)
The 2022 sequel that is in 3D looks promising but the AI still seems a bit dumb. I guess that adds to the 90s camp xD
For the amount of content, Serial Cleaner is very cheap $1 game. Good enough ;)

First, clean the monitor screen before starting.
청소 요정이 되어보자.

A very simple, stealth-light game.
The challenge isn't that high, but it also doesn't overstay it's welcome.

The visual style and sound design are nice, but nothing that will blow your mind.

As the game says itself, you cleaning up after murders - nice movie references are present, the story is very much skip-able, and getting 100% achievements isn't that hard, taking between 4 -8 hours, so use that for your money / fun ratio.

All in all, I would still recommend the game mainly for any of those times where you just want a quick game instead of a time sink and don't want to stress out about min-maxing gameplay, but also don't want something that is too passive.

a big surprise for the fellas who love Cinema.

a lot of references to pop culture starting from Alien to Zodiac killer.

the game seems easy at start, but as you go forward the game gives you doses of dophamine and because of that you just wanna keep playing and playing. it may be difficult at first, but after some tries you'll just easily get it through.

the big advantage of any other games is that no YouTube video can help you, solve your contracts, you will have to beat them all by yourself, that's the thing i love in games like this.

personally took me 8 hours to beat the game to 100%

so much soul was put into this game, sadly underrated. 9/10

Serial Cleaner is an isometric stealth puzzle “crime scene cleaner” simulator developed by Draw Distance, a Polish developer of games like the Vampire: The Masquerade visual novel Coteries of New York (and it’s sequels) along with Ritual: Crown of Horns and games that haven’t even seen much work since like Far Peak (a himalayan ice climbing game with choices?) and Halls of Horror (a board game). Starting development in 2016, they took inspiration from a combination of things, mainly Winston Wolf from Pulp Fiction and The Continental from John Wick and set it in the 1970s due to both style and the influx of many serial killers (i.e. The Zodiac Killer). The game would release in early access in 2017 before later on getting released in full around 2018/2019. That’s where I came in as I had apparently picked it up in May 2019 (I’m not sure if it was myself or someone bought me a key, if it was a buddy of mine then my apologies) and then would spend the next five to almost six years attempting to play the game. See I really suck with this game and admittedly got frustrated due to the repetitive nature of Serial Cleaner, and would only get around to finishing the damn thing literally in February of 2025. I have some very late critiques to give to Serial Cleaner, starting with the gameplay.
The gameplay loop for Serial Cleaner consists of the following: enter a map, run around it to pick up any evidence while cleaning up blood (with your…mobile vacuum?) and dumping dead bodies either in your car or specific spots in the environment. You can hide in certain areas like pots or behind plants, and you can move things around in the stage in order to access a new area, escape from pursuers or perhaps even trap/block them off. You however, cannot defend yourself in the slightest, perhaps because it’s not in Bob’s nature or perhaps there are too many cops or something else, I don’t know. It’s not a bad loop at first, a lot of trial and error sure and you’ll soon get the general feeling of trying not to get caught by cops and moving around bodies in the crime scene, but you never feel like number one they actually react to realizing the body is gone or that evidence was swiped. In fact, they mainly pretend that the suspicious body bag right in front of you doesn’t exist. The developers instead put the difficulty on randomizing the map every time you get caught, which luckily you can see by using your cleaner sense (holding LT) to view the entire map instead of the five feet in front of you that’ll help you plan out, and luckily it’ll show you which buttons to interact with and what hatches you can escape to as well. So the A.I. is pretty much dumb (like jumping into a hiding spot in front of them dumb), but when they’re not dumb they can be a tad annoying like the Afro cops who run super fast to beat your ass or the worst: marksman cops, who just shoot you instantly as soon as they see you. Later missions spam them with all of these enemy types on top of cameras that get frustrating, though sometimes it feels a bit unbalanced difficulty wise. The second to last level for example? You sneak through a house and dodge cameras, which are absolutely everywhere and annoying (though ironically one of the only missions that aren’t randomized) and then the last one against the final boss was actually decently easy and I didn’t die once due to limited police and an easy batch of interactables to mess with. Sometimes you’ll get caught and restart a lot, sometimes you won’t; it’s a strange lack of consistency that I’m mixed about. One last thing I should mention is that you’ll be able to find certain film reels and magazines throughout all twenty levels if you can find them, which unlock bonus contracts based on seventies movies like “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”, “Enter the Dragon” or “Alien” which is cool for those who want to delve into extra content though I don’t know if the costumes provide any benefit other than “it’s funny to wear fishnet stockings while wrapping up dead bodies”. I don’t know, I don’t hate it but over time I felt my enthusiasm for the game wane and I feel I’m in a strange place: maybe I went into this not understanding my expectations, or maybe it just didn’t mesh well with me due to repetitiveness and lack of true depth. I guess this lack of defense is something I should address in the plot section, because I guess there is technically a reason.
In short, Serial Cleaner has a lot of things that it’s got going for it that I really love. Underworld crime job mixed in with serial killer thriller plot? Check. The soundtrack? Madone it’s beautiful and s e x y with its earworm funk beats. Graphically it’s a bit on the simple side and while not to my taste, really compliments the seventies vibe that the game gives. The gameplay on the other hand? I don’t hate it, it has its ideas but I found it to be monotonous and frustrating due to the randomized nature mixed in with the repetitive feel. Do games like Hotline Miami (which it has a lot of inspiration from) have a repetitive feel? Yes, but you know what happens and you know how to experiment and while it is frustrating sometimes, it works due to the fact you can kill people and take out obstacles that are set forward. The randomized evidence mixed in with frustrating game mechanics really put me off a lot, and while it could just be a “skill issue”, I really wish that it was a bit less monotonous and more engaging. There is a lot here that I want to “love”, but I only semi-like this game. However, if you’re looking for a game that keeps you engaged and you’re a lot more patient with it, then you have a decent amount of hours (six hours for the campaign, not counting the bonus levels or challenge modes) that you could sink in for a cheapish price (like 3.99 when it’s on sale at the time of writing) that while I didn’t like, I begrudgingly respected for what it tried to do. Serial Cleaner itself would come out with a sequel, Serial Cleaners, in 2022 which seemed to have upgraded its graphical style to a similar one to Disco Elysium along with having four different cleaners that sits in the top ten of my Steam Wishlist. What I know of Draw Distance after Serial Cleaner, they created the Vampire the Masquerade: New York trilogy of visual novels which I still need to play and looks good as well but I don’t know. I guess the too long didn’t read is this: it’s better as a movie than a game, Crime Scene Cleaners just looks to be a better game so if you want the “cleaning” experience there’s that but if you like puzzles, the game is fine.
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Unique game experience. Music topnotch, design top tier, gameplay easy to understand, but sometimes furiating and can be moderatly challenging. It's nice game overall. I recommend it. Big high five to the development team!

Serial Cleaner is a funky top down stealth game where you play as a cleaner taking care of his mother and cleaning up after murder scenes. There are 20 story contracts and 10 famous movie-themed contracts (such as taxi driver and alien).
Cleaning blood with a vacuum cleaner, moving bodies, clearing evidence, all whilst making sure not to be spotted by several different types of enemies by hiding in cupboards and pot-plants, moving certain objects, or interacting with items that cause sound distractions.
I received this game in a random key bundle, and after finally getting around to playing it, as well as 100% completing all achievements as well as 100% blood clean on all 30 levels, I can say without a doubt in my mind (outside of contract 17. f*** contract 17) that this game is NECESSARY to play.
The controls (I used arrows to move, a to interact, and s to pick up bodies) were awkward to me at first, but the story contracts pace you very well in order to learn different mechanics of the game. The lack of checkpoints feels perfect to me, although it seems many of the negative reviews tend to disagree with me. (Just don't get caught I guess?)
I adored the visual style of the game, and the soundtrack was fantastic throughout. Every second, including every restart, was thoroughly enjoyable.
I cannot recommend this game enough.