Serial Cleaners‘ visuals are backed up by a jazzy lounge music score that sets the tone for the majority of the game. Being a top-down stealth action game, it still retains the table-top-esque nature of gameplay but with added detail to flesh out each area. While I liked the design of the first game, this new style lets the levels feel more dynamic and alive. Serial Cleaners ditches that art style, going for a grimey scan-lined aesthetic that takes heavy inspiration from 90s movies. Edges were often sharp and environments looked as if they were laid out on the table before you. The first game, which was originally released in 2017, had a nice visual aesthetic with an art style that almost felt like it was made of paper. Due to how different each character is to play, you might have one or two personal favorites that you want to keep playing as but, thankfully, the narrative is intriguing enough to make you want to keep seeing what happens next regardless of who you play as. From hacking (the digital kind) to parkour, these new playstyles help keep the gameplay loop fresh and interesting. Each of the four cleaners and playable and they each have their own set of skills. The key difference in this sequel to the first game is the addition of different playstyles. Serial Cleaners proudly wears its 90s influences on its sleeve, taking inspiration from Tarantino hits and B-movie cult classics alike. The story of Serial Cleaners is set on New Year’s Eve 1999 as a group of four cleaners gather to have a few drinks and share stories about their careers. So when we got an email for a game called Serial Cleaners and I found out that it’s a sequel to the aforementioned game that I played on the Switch, and that it was set against the gritty backdrop of a 1990s New York, I was intrigued. I played the game a few times, enjoying the premise (of a murder scene cleaner tasked with getting rid of the evidence before the police bag it) and its simple but satisfying puzzles. A few years ago, after making several purchases on the Nintendo Switch eShop, I spent the last of my Gold points on a random title I had never heard of before called Serial Cleaner.

Serial cleaner nintendo switch