During the Steam Next Fest, MeinMMO author Linda Knabe checked out the demo of Goblin Cleanup and immediately fell in love with the game’s concept. As part of Find Your Next Game, she wants to introduce it to you here.
Goblin Cleanup caught my eye immediately in the list of all the Steam Next Fest showcases. I generally enjoy games where I have to clean up and tidy up – like PowerWash Simulator or House Flipper – or I can watch other players do it for hours.
But Goblin Cleanup also lured me in with a fresh and fun concept that is a bit different from just plain cleaning or renovating. It was clear that I wanted to give the demo a chance.
The concept behind Goblin Cleanup is actually quite simple: You play as a goblin maid, also classically dressed in a cute maid outfit, who tidies up her master’s dungeon after a few heroes have failed there.
Before you start the game later, you can customize your maid, although the “default maid” already looked incredibly cute. In the demo version, customization is not yet possible, but I was able to take a look at the available options. You can customize the body type, hair, face, and accessories, for example. But you can also choose your “cleaning tool” specifically for your maid.
More fun in cooperative mode
Then you choose between a solo or cooperative round. I only tested the solo mode, but I can imagine that the cooperative mode is a lot more fun.
So you dive into one of the possible dungeons and start cleaning. And this is where the real fun of the game begins. Your task is to prepare the dungeon for the next heroes and to remove the remnants of the previous heroes. At some points, I just thought, “So this is where you died? Embarrassing!”
Basically, as a goblin maid, you have a few core tasks:
- Wipe up blood from floors and walls.
- Return furniture, barrels, and torches to their places.
- Feed the remains of heroes to the mimic chests.
- Return the golden loot to the chest.
- Reset triggered and destroyed traps or recharge them with new mana.
What sounds simple can quickly become dangerous for a goblin maid. I died a few times in my first round because I just didn’t think properly. I could have guessed that this laser-eyed ball would constantly attack me as soon as I repaired it. Also, you should not get too close to the mimic chest, because they notoriously do not differentiate between friend or foe.
A goblin maid must clean, but also survive
But that’s exactly what I love about the whole concept behind Goblin Cleanup. It’s not just about cleaning, but I also have to survive myself – because if I die, I leave a mess that I then have to clean up. Because no, you don’t just die and the round is over. In the dungeon, there are altars that you can activate, and where you respawn.
This is also the point that will definitely be even more fun in cooperative mode. To see how your colleagues might suddenly get impaled because they step on a hidden button or get eaten by a chest.
At least you then also know better where you should be more careful. Sending someone else in first or pushing them into a trap to trigger it first, and then safely proceeding could definitely also be a tactic.
Ultimately, I was also impressed by a few small details in the game. For example, when you wipe up blood with your impaled little blue slime, he looks more and more sad and desperate the redder he becomes.
I felt a little sorry for him every time I had to feed him to the chest, but the work has to be done. After all, I’m a model goblin maid and leave no mess behind. By the way, MyMMO editor Benedict Grothaus tested a game at the Next Fest that is not usually his thing, and it convinced him nonetheless: Steam: I played a survival game that is way too cute for me and still had fun
