serial wipers is the continuation of Draw Distance to the singular serial cleaner, a stylish 2D stealth action game where you clean up crime scenes without getting caught. While the original offers a more traditional top-down view where you avoid cops’ attention by dodging vision cones, Serial Cleaners adds different characters and abilities to the mix, along with a visual revamp that improves more than just the aesthetics And works! Making the act of evidence removal an action-packed affair makes it a great game to play in bursts.
Serial Cleaners sees you switch between four different shredders who work for the mob: a criminal organization that commits a lot of murder. It’s New Year’s Eve 1999, and the team reminisces about old times, how they met, and the biggest jobs they’ve ever done. You have Bob, the jaded mentor who returns from the first game; Psycho, the disturbed tropey; Lati, passionate about fast parkour; and Vip3r (with a three in her name, mind you), a hacker who says things like “leet” and “TTYI” and makes me want to sink to the ground in shame.
The characters in the game are quite an interesting bunch whose elimination missions carry different contexts depending on their background. Bob can’t seem to escape the mob and his cocaine-fueled parties, no matter how much he cares for his sick mother, while Vip3r keeps an eye on crime through his secret online channels and runs to hide the mess. of the. Sometimes it’s a little hard to keep up with what’s really going on, especially since most of the context is shown in a short paragraph at the bottom of a loading screen and not explained in detail in person; Not to mention, you’re bouncing between four different people on a regular basis. However, these issues are offset by some interesting flashback sequences that dig a little deeper into their troubled personal histories.
And once you get into the art of scrapping, it’s easy to forgive the uneven rhythms of the game’s story. Each mission has a set number of objectives to tick off and rarely deviates from the formula: you need to dispose of some bodies, drop pocket or more substantial evidence, and suck up enough blood to satisfy the boss. Of course, it’s each character’s ability to perform these tasks with varying levels of flair that keeps things interesting.
As Bob, you can wrap bodies, making sure they don’t leave a trail of blood when they crawl across the ground and slide over blood trails for a quick getaway. As a Vip3r, he can hack into terminals and remotely open doors, turn off lights, and create other distractions. Psycho is perhaps the funniest of the bunch, as you can hack bodies to pieces with a chainsaw, breaking them into limbs that can be more easily transported but with the tradeoff that there are, well, more of them. And as Psycho, you can throw items at unsuspecting guards to knock them unconscious. Even seeing you hack into a body will cause a guard to faint, which can be used to your advantage in some hilarious and gruesome ways.
Really though, it is Lati who is the best of the bunch. She’s capable of jumping low fences, climbing gutters, and generally fluttering around the map like it’s parkour heaven. Sure, she might seem like the simplest ability, but it suits the sensibility of the game perfectly. While others may have to rely on catching keys and stalking hallways, playing as Lati means you can exploit the game’s architecture and outsmart the AI with your superior athletic ability. And once you’ve timed all the routes she can take, Lati’s ability to fly through maps creates a sense of body removal that I can only describe as a kind of flow state: it’s weird, horrible, wonderful. .
The game rewards clean, precise clearance as well as chaotic clumsiness, meaning you never feel like you’re being punished when those calculated maneuvers turn into frantic sprints. Like a simple immersive simulator, the game caters for creativity or outright panic, so you feel like you’re in or you can take back control just by opening a door or slipping into a conveniently placed cupboard. Some of the best moments in the game come from accidents, like when I opened a door on a guard and knocked him out, or when I threw a limb into a wood chipper hoping to take it out and ended up timing a cop. square tender on the jaw.
While there is an element of repeatability to the missions, with each ultimately requiring the same serve, the game does its best to add a few curveballs to the mix. I can’t go into this in detail, but two cleaners can help each other or the parties can inhibit your ability to see clearly. But you’re never thrown into a situation that feels hopelessly unfair, as the level design and its hiding spots are often just the right amount of forgiving. Also, you have this slow motion ability that zooms out and highlights enemies and points of interest if you ever need any direction.
And Serial Cleaners has a relatively quick runtime, made up of a few chapters that wrap things up before you stick around any longer. While a variety of cleaners and solid level design can’t turn the game into a one-session gobbling affair, it’s still a stressful burst of fun and anecdote generator if you’re a chaotic cleaner or more methodical with vacuum
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