Back in 2017, we released Serial Cleaner. In this story-driven, fast-paced stealth/action game set in 1970s America, you play as a Bob C. Leaner, a professional crime scene cleaner working for the mob. In 2021, we are back with an ambitious sequel set in the ‘90s New York, inspired by iconic movies of that era!
“That’s not how I remember it.”
New Year’s Eve, 1999. Bob and his fellow cleaners meet up in the back of a funeral home which serves as a front for their bloody business, to celebrate the passing decade and reminisce about the good old times. In the beginning, their get-together serves as a nostalgic trip to the early ‘90s, back to when they first met and took their first outlandish assignments. As the recollections continue, odd inaccuracies keep piling up, exposing long-withheld truths they’ve been hiding from each other.
Move without sound. Clean without emotion. Disappear without trace.
In Serial Cleaners, we greatly expand on the original game’s ideas to free the player from its puzzle-like constraints. Whether you’d like to sneak or sprint through the level, drag the corpse around, or saw it to pieces, we’ve got you covered! With a wide range of contextual interactions and more involved law enforcement, the game gets way more open-ended. And while the overall complexity increases, the heart of our original game — wiping the scene clear of corpses, blood, and evidence — is still there and feels better than ever.
Four distinct cleaners mean four different perspectives and playstyles. We’ve got Psycho’s brute force, Lati’s agility and awareness, Vip3r’s cutting-edge tech skills, all cradled by Bob’s good old-fashioned tricks of the trade. Each mission ties to one of the cleaners and unfolds a piece of their turbulent story over the decade.
“I want my MTV”
Serial Cleaner was set in a timeframe rarely explored in games: the 1970s. We were always proud of the art, the sound, and the atmosphere, which were conveying the spirit of the decade. In the sequel, our style evolved. We moved into 3D in pursuit of a look that would fit our more mature tone of storytelling. We utilize the eccentric style of the first game and infuse it with the atmosphere of ‘90s cinema, from Tarantino’s classics through cult crime thrillers to B-movie action favorites, remixing those familiar scenes into its own unique spin on a decade full of brightly colored optimism… and the grime underneath it all.
Music-wise, we’ve got this crude ‘90s punk nonconformity, the sound of many genres that defined the end of the last century. East Coast hip hop to industrial metal and a sea of electronic music, from Beastie Boys, and Wu-Tang Clan, through Orbital, Prodigy, finishing with NIN and Ministry. It’s our way of developing a fresh aesthetic and realizing a total vision of the ‘90s.
Serial Cleaners in 5Pointz
Our latest video introduces the very much vertical 5Pointz map, an iconic area, a pinnacle of New York City’s street art.
Summary
Serial Cleaners is a bizarre crime story with a cheeky twist on a wiseguy fantasy. While cleaning up after NYC’s wrongdoers you get to glimpse the twisted joke of reality underneath. But you’re a professional, one of the best of the trade. If a mobster in distress finds out you’re on your way, he can chill out, ‘cause, he knows you’re the guy who solves problems!
Serial Cleaners is coming to Xbox later this year.