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Serial Cleaner

2017 video game

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Serial Cleaner is a stealth game developed by Draw Distance and published by Curve Digital/Plug In Digital. Players attempt to remove evidence from crime scenes without being caught. It was followed by Serial Cleaners.

01Gameplay

Players control a cleaner who is hired to remove evidence at crime scenes in the 1970s. Besides moving corpses, this takes a literal aspect as they vacuum up blood. Police are already at the scene, and if they see the cleaner, they chase. Player can hide in various spots on the map, which causes the police to lose interest in them. Being caught forces players to replay the level and randomizes the locations of the objects that need to be cleaned.

02Development

Serial Cleaner was initially released by Curve Digital for PCs, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on July 14, 2017. The Nintendo Switch version followed on November 30, 2017, and it was released on iOS on June 20, 2019. On February 11th, 2025, the game was rereleased for iOS and Android by Plug In Digital.

03Reception

On Metacritic, Serial Cleaner received positive reviews on the Switch and mixed reviews elsewhere. Rock Paper Shotgun, NintendoLife, and Vice liked the game's concept but found the idea of restarting randomized levels infuriating. Conversely, GamesRadar's reviewer found the scenes where he was caught funny, and he enjoyed the level design. Push Square wrote, "Its difficulty and slight release content are offset by a number of options, a great premise, and some uniquely engaging gameplay." NintendoWorldReport praised the gameplay and retro charm but felt that the Switch controls were sometimes inconsistent.

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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Serial Cleaner, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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