Have you ever found yourself inside a dark fortress or at the bottom of a dungeon full of hidden traps in a video game and wondered – “So who put all this here?” If your answer is yes, then Goblin Cleanup might be the game that will interest you.
Goblin Cleanup is an indie game developed by the Crisalu Games team in which you play the role of a cleaner who has to clean up and clear a dungeon that has been previously passed through by brave (and potentially deceased) adventurers before new ones arrive. Ovakav koncept podsjetio me na dobri stari Viscera’s Cleanup Detail ali što sam više igrao dojam mi je bio da je ovo ipak malo drugačija igra. Atmospherically, the game is a combination of dark fantasy with mild horror elements, which fits perfectly with this type of game. Before you go to work, the game puts you in your home, which serves as a "hub" area, where you can choose a level, read instructions and most importantly - buy clothes and edit your character. The amount of available clothes that you can choose and buy for one demo is very impressive, and I especially liked that you can individually change the color of each item of clothing, as well as the skin of your goblin, and the color of your trident, which we will talk about later.
After choosing a level, the game teleports you and opens a door that leads to the chosen dungeon. I was surprised by the fact that the game does not have any hateful loading screen, but everything takes place dynamically, and very quickly, although this illusion of dynamic teleportation collapses a little due to the inevitable stuttering and freezing when loading the level. The demo I played consists of 8 levels, which is more than a decent amount of content, especially if you decide to play independently. The tutorial level is also under construction, but the mechanics are simple enough that the tutorial is not overly necessary, and all the necessary information is already written in the book that you can read before entering the level.
When you get to your bloody workplace, you'll be greeted with a lot of work to tackle with 3 key tools. You have your faithful fists that serve you to return objects such as benches, torches, tables and chairs to their intended places, since the adventurers who previously passed are great delinquents, and they scattered absolutely everything. For cleaning, you will use a trident, on which you stick a slimy jellyfish with which you wipe the blood. Of course, the jellyfish will fill with blood, so you will have to change it regularly. You also use the trident to get rid of human waste and other unwanted debris on the ground. Finally, you have a magic ball with energy, the so-called Mana, which you use to open magical doors. When it comes to the cleaning itself, the part that disappointed me a bit is the blood cleaning. There is no smearing of blood, nor does walking through it leave marks on the ground. Such details would make the experience more dynamic, especially in cooperative play.
The design of the dungeons is impressive. The objects that are placed, as well as the traps that you have to avoid, are placed meaningfully and it really gives you the impression that in another game you would go through this kind of dungeon. What is especially fun is that you have to be very careful how you clean the traps, because you can very easily become a victim of them, so you will often clean your own blood and other remains. The game can be accessed independently or cooperatively with 4 players. I got the impression that the game is much more adapted for cooperative play, because the dungeons are quite large, and clearing them on your own can become a chore.
If this description of the game intrigued you, you can try Goblin Cleanup for free on Steam in the form of a demo version, and the early access version of the game will be available to play on September 18, 2025.
