I thought all of these story flashbacks were very interesting. Some of the flashbacks are more intimate moments that reveal the characters’ backstories. The game is structured so that each level is a flashback to one of the gang’s previous operations, though not all of the flashbacks are actual stages. They’re very fun to hang around, even as their stories go to some very dark places. I really like all the main characters, they’re well-written, believable human beings, and their voice actors do a great job at bringing them to life.
The game starts off really promising, with a flashy, animated introduction full of style, before segueing into our four protagonists, celebrating New Years’ Eve 1999 by swapping tales of their favorite operations from a decade of being in business. If there’s one thing I liked about the game, it is the well-crafted story.
It’s not a glamorous line of work, and the cast eventually grows to have mixed feelings over it, but it’s definitely a unique setup. They go to crime scenes and clean up anything that could be incriminating to their employer, namely evidence, dead bodies, and especially blood. Serial Cleaners is a pulpy, 90’s infused, organized crime tale about Bob, Psycho, Viper, and Lati, a group of mobsters who deal in the business of evidence disposal. Serial Cleaners is a hybrid stealth game/cleaning simulator, perhaps one of the weirdest genre mashups I’ve seen in the longest time, and it’s absolutely not a harmonious mixture. Unless you count super vacuum cleaning action. It’s the purest stealth game I’ve seen in a long time, all sneaking, no action. This is why I was a little skeptical of Serial Cleaners, from developer Draw Distance and publisher 505 Games. It can greatly enhance a game it’s featured with, but it’s a bad situation when all you have is ketchup. I think adding stealth mechanics to a game is like adding a condiment to your favorite meal.
But playing these games the way the devs subtly hint that you should, a nonlethal ghost playthrough, is extremely unpalatable to me. I love Dishonored for its imaginative world and characters, and for the well-done sword combat. I love Deus Ex for its freedom of choice and the feeling of being a superpowered cyborg badass. They’re some of my favorite games to play, but I rarely enjoy them for the actual stealth mechanics. I have a complex relationship with stealth games.
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