Cleaner Company Preview

Cleaning games have certainly taken off in recent years, and it can be hard for a developer to really stand out in the market. However, Wildflame Studio is looking to forge a niche by mixing multiplayer, space, and a hint of comedy and horror to help in its latest title, Cleaner Company. I tried the game to see if it’s the next one to take your mop to, or if you should consider hiring a different cleaner.

So, the plot of Cleaner Company has you joining a suspicious company that helps clean up some of the messes on space stations, ships, and other places. The idea of joining some shady organisation isn’t exactly new, and the parallels drawn to Lethal Company are impossible to miss. However, it does allow for a bit of comedy, and the notes you find around the levels only help to build some suspicion on who you’re actually working for. 

The main focus here is… well, it’s cleaning up a whole bunch of body parts and other detritus. If you’ve ever played Crime Scene Cleaner, then you’ll have a basic idea of what to expect. You’ll need to use a set of tools to clean up stains, move items to their right place, and throw away trash. The difference here is that you also get a gun to help deal with some of the monsters that will attack or trap you and dump MORE trash on the floor.

Meanwhile, the tools you have access to, like mops and vacuums, work as you would expect, and you eventually have a lot of tools at your disposal to deal with most of the threats. There’s also the odd environmental danger you need to be aware of, like leaking oxygen in a section of a ship, and fuses that you’ll need to replace to turn the lights back on. So far, I can’t see any major issues with the gameplay, and I’m interested to see what other levels are introduced when the game releases. With that being said, there is one little issue when it comes to Cleaner Company.

See, here’s the thing: while you can play Cleaner Company solo, it appears to be designed to be played with more than one person. In a group, you can get through the levels much faster, keep an eye on each other and split up the jobs so that each person can lessen the load. On your own, however, there are often so many things to do that each level can take an absolute age to complete. It’s not terrible, and if you like cleaning titles, then you really won’t mind, but I struggled to get into the game while playing on my own. Also, in my opinion, you don’t really get extra points for being fun with other people, because that’s rarely due to the game itself and is instead due to your own actions.

I do like the overall design of Cleaner Company, from the hub ship to the places you’ll visit and the creatures you’ll encounter. There’s plenty to see and to do, aside from the usual issue of some stuff being hard to spot; it’s usually pretty clear what you need to be doing at any one time. I do think it’s a bit of a pain that you need to swap to your empty hands to interact, but I get why. However, I’m unclear on how your scanner removes the item you were holding, which you'll need to reequip each time. It’s not the biggest problem, but it’s annoying when you add an extra step while trying to find the last few stains. I also like the random perk pills you can find around the map, most of which are humorous if nothing else (I got made very short for a brief time).

Honestly, I like Cleaner Company, but I really hope to see a bit more added to make the single player a bit less overwhelming. That being said, they didn’t have to add a mode for it, and could have focused just on the multiplayer, so the addition alone should be worth some bonus points. If you like cleaning with your friends, then this could be one for you to keep an eye on.