Over on Twitter, Bloober Team recently announced that it’s working with indie studio Draw Distance, developer of last year’s murder cleanup stealth game Serial Cleaners. The two Polish studios are working together on a new project codenamed Project M, which had been in pre-production at Bloober Team for over a year, and has now entered the full production phase following Draw Distance having been “chosen as its developer”.

Bloober Team hasn’t provided any details on what the game will turn out to be, roughly when it might launch, or even what platforms it will launch for. The developer has, however, accompanied the announcement with some concept art that seems to suggest it will very much be in Bloober’s wheelhouse and in the horror arena.

Bloober Team is currently working on the Silent Hill 2 remake, which doesn’t yet have a release date but is in the final stages of development, as well as Layers of Fears, which is due out sometime this year.

In December, the developer also announced that it had started development on a new survival horror game that will be published by Private Division, while in November 2021, it announced a collaboration with Rogue Games for a “next-gen” title for PC and consoles.

We're working on a new game! For over a year now, #BlooberTeam has been conducting pre-production works on a title codenamed Project M. Now the game enters the production phase, and @DrawDistanceDev (creators of the Serial Cleaner franchise), has been chosen as its developer! pic.twitter.com/AwPV38QmwG

— Bloober Team (@BlooberTeam) February 13, 2023

As a cleaner for the mob in New York City during the ’90s, your job is to infiltrate crime scenes and remove any incriminating evidence. On top of this, you’ll need to be careful of the police. Throughout the story, you’ll interact with each crew member and learn their backstories, though some may not be completely honest.

With an atmosphere that calls classic films like Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction to mind, Serial Cleaners also employs an aesthetic reminiscent of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work. For more details on the gameplay, check out our official review here.

According to the Steam description, Serial Cleaners is supposed to be a stealth-action game, and looking at those words and reading the general description, I was prepared for a Deus Ex-styled immersive sim romp through intricate levels. While I was incredibly wrong on that front, I’m also pretty happy that I was wrong. Serial Cleaners offers a surprisingly unique experience that I doubt has really been done before aside from its own predecessor, the confusingly-titled Serial Cleaner.

"Think of characters like the fixer from Pulp Fiction or the cleaning company from John Wick. Serial Cleaners puts you in the shoes of such cleaners and gives you a glimpse at their stories—stories which are seldom explored in games."

While Serial Cleaners is a sequel, it’s worth keeping in mind that it doesn’t really have much to do with its predecessor aside from the general gameplay. All of the characters, stories, and levels are completely divorced from the events of the first game, so you don’t really have to go out of your way to hunt down a copy of Serial Cleaner just to get the whole story.

Serial Cleaners focuses on four cleaners, and largely takes place over the 1990s in America. Each cleaner plays quite differently, since they all have their own area of expertise. Erin Reed, for example, is a hacker. As such, levels where you play as her revolve around using technology to distract and disorient guards as you skulk around in the shadows trying to dispose of evidence and dead bodies. Bob Leaner, on the other hand, can travel around his levels quickly by sliding on blood trails left by dead bodies being dragged around.

While the cleaners’ unique abilities are a far cry from being game changing, they offer just enough uniqueness to really make you consider how best to use these characters to their fullest. The levels aren’t particularly long, so replaying missions doesn’t really take much time, thanks especially to how deterministic just about everything in the core gameplay is.

Speaking of core gameplay, Serial Cleaners may not be a full-fledged immersive sim, but it definitely takes quite a few ideas from the genre. A surprising level of interactivity is available, from blood spills that you can create accidentally or on purpose, to the ability to distract guards by making sounds, turning off lights, or even just leaving a door open. And just about everything you do might end up having some unforeseen consequences.

Those blood spills that Leaner can slide around on? Part of the mission in just about every level is to also clean up those spills without being spotted. This means that you’ll have to use a loud vacuum cleaner that might attract guards thanks to its noise. Want to avoid making more of the spills? Better put those corpses you have to dispose of in body bags so that dragging them around doesn’t cause even more blood to spill out.

"Serial Cleaners may not be a full-fledged immersive sim, but it definitely takes quite a few ideas from the genre. A surprising level of interactivity is available, from blood spills that you can create accidentally or on purpose, to the ability to distract guards by making sounds, turning off lights, or even just leaving a door open. And just about everything you do might end up having some unforeseen consequences."

Despite all of the interactivity, however, Serial Cleaners’ revolves around the stories of its four “protagonists”. The game is strictly divided into levels, with the tutorial involving the four meeting up for a job. After that, we get basically a backstory for all of the characters, each with their own level designed specially to show off their special abilities. Leaner’s level, for example, is just about covered in blood stains, letting him slide all over the place. Reed’s level takes place in a morgue, so there isn’t much to clean up, but the security is tight and the computers are hackable.

Serial Cleaners does an admirable job in tying its gameplay so close to the stories of its characters, and while not all of the writing is of the highest possible caliber, they’re all still quite likable. It’s worth noting that they’re also not the most original characters out there—you’ll notice quite a few archetypes on display if you’re a fan of 90s-era cult classic movies. The developers have been quite open about being inspired by that decade of cinema, so the character archetypes are an intentional part of the game.

Serial Cleaners’ biggest asset is its style. Owing to its 90s-era cinematic inspirations, the art style definitely feels like it’s evoking a very specific time and place in gaming. Its character models have low polygon counts, and textures in the environment are just the right amount of muddy and pixelated to evoke the look of classic PlayStation games. There’s an incredibly specific kind of nostalgia that’s being evoked in Serial Cleaners—one of a grimy city in the 90s filled to the brim with murders and other general crime.

Intentional or not, I do believe that this look manages to add to the game’s overall sense of style. Thankfully, the lo-fi graphics don’t get in the way of gameplay, owing largely to the fact that things that can be interacted with are visible through the Cleaner vision every character has. That’s right, Serial Cleaners has the murder-cleanup version of Detective Vision, which comes in quite handy for things like figuring out where all the evidence is, keeping an eye on guard patrols, and finding smaller things you might want to mess around with, like light switches for example.

"Serial Cleaners’ biggest asset is its style."

The biggest gripes I’ve had with Serial Cleaners largely revolve around actually playing the game. Its control scheme feels quite ill-suited to the traditional PC gaming mouse and keyboard setup. Since it uses an isometric camera angle, moving around with the WASD key cluster feels quite awkward. You don’t ever want to take your hand off the mouse when playing a game on your PC, after all.

Even once you’ve gotten around that, the characters and UI feel quite clunky to control. Having played it largely with a controller since then, I can confidently say that using a controller is the way to play this game. Everything generally feels better when you’re moving around with an analogue stick and don’t have to stretch your fingers all over the keyboard for various shortcuts. And seriously, using a keyboard’s arrow keys to control the camera might just be one of the strangest design decisions I’ve seen from a game in the last decade.

Overall, Serial Cleaners is a pretty good time. It’s not a particularly long game, but it’s definitely one that rewards repeated playthroughs thanks to its surprising level of interactivity. Its story’s also pretty fun, and you will likely end up getting surprisingly attached to the four protagonists by the end of the game. I, however, find myself strangely attracted to the game thanks to its unique use of a setting we’ve taken for granted these days. Couple that with the interesting subject matter, and a great use of aesthetics to evoke a certain style, and Serial Cleaners definitely becomes a game to look out for. We play all sorts of gangsters and hitmen, so why not take a small break from committing murders to maybe look at the difficult job of cleaning up after murders for a change?

This game was reviewed on PC.

Please note that some of these games may have 2022 as a tentative release date as of the time of writing this feature, and are subject to change. 

With that out of the way, let’s begin:

God of War: Ragnarok

Sony Santa Monica delivered an excellent reimagining of God of War with its 2018 reboot which masterfully combined sincere storytelling with adrenaline-pumping gameplay. Those familiar with the game would know that the story ended on a cliffhanger, and naturally – fans are more than excited to see the narrative unfold with the sequel. The aptly titled God of War: Ragnarok will continue the adventures of Kratos and Atreus as they bring about Fimbulwinter. God of War: Ragnarok releases on 9 November 2022 for PS4 and PS5.

The Last of Us Part I

Naughty Dog’s 2013 classic, which mixes cinematic story-telling with action-adventure and survival elements, remains an unforgettable experience. On September 2nd, fans can relive that experience on PS5 (for a $70 price tag, of course) with The Last of Us Part 1. Built from the ground up for the console, it offers more detailed environments, improved animations, shorter loading times, DualSense support, and a wide range of accessibility options.

AI improvements, a revamped crafting bench, and much more also await. Though multiplayer isn’t included, it’s still worth looking into for the sheer visual splendor.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero

Twelve years after its original release on PlayStation Portable, Falcom’s The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero is finally being localized to English and released worldwide. Set months after the end of Trails in the Sky the 3rd, the story moves to Crossbell, a city-state of advanced technology and economic wealth. Crime and conspiracies run rampant, which results in the formation of the Special Support Section led by Lloyd Bannings.

Releasing on September 27th for PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch, the English version includes High-Speed and Skip Modes along with improvements to texture quality, bug fixes, and much more.

NBA 2K23

Dread it, run from it – NBA 2K arrives all the same. The year’s release features the usual ensemble of MyCareer (with The City and The Cruise returning for current and previous gen platforms), MyTeam, MyGM and MyLeague modes featuring both NBA and WNBA teams. However, significant revamps have been made to the gameplay, from new Pro Stick combos and Adrenaline Boosts to new Shot Meters and Shooting Attributes.

Even the Badge System and Player Builder have been improved, providing more freedom in customization. If that weren’t enough, The Jordan Challenges from NBA 2K11 return with the original 10 rebuilt and five new challenges added. NBA 2K23 is out on September 9th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch. Hopefully, it amounts to more than another yearly microtransaction fest.

Splatoon 3

Splatoon 3 will feel very familiar to fans of the previous two games, which is a good thing, but there are plenty of new features. Splatsville is the new hub with shops like Naut Coutour and Crush Station to purchase different gear, Ammo Knights for weapons, and a new digital CCG called Table Turf Battles. There are 12 stages for multiplayer in total, some new and several returning, along with new weapons like Stingers and Splatanas.

Even the core gameplay has received some new moves like the Squid Roll and Squid Surge maneuvers. Of course, those keen on PvE can experience a brand new campaign, “Return of the Mammalians,” and co-op with Salmon Run Next Wave. Splatoon 3 is out on September 9th for Nintendo Switch, with additional weapons, stages, gear catalogues, and more coming free after launch.

Soulstice

Reply Game Studios’ Soulstice may seem like your average hack and slash action game with launchers, Stingers, combos and so on. But there’s a lot more to this tale of two sisters, Briar and Lute, as they venture to the city of Ilden and battle forces from beyond the Veil. The dark fantasy art direction and story-telling, combined with the solid combat variety and intriguing story, should make for an interesting experience.

Soulstice is out on September 20th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, with a free demo available to try on Steam.

Slime Rancher 2

Monomi Park’s Slime Rancher 2 going into early access on September 22nd for PC and Xbox Series X/S. While Beatrix LeBeau returns as the protagonist, players will venture to the new Rainbow Island to gather its slimes. Though it offers improved visuals and new slimes, you’ll still be collecting and raising them to earn Newbucks and expand the farm.

Though the full extent of content for the early access launch has yet to be revealed, the developer promises “a big world to explore, many different slimes to collect and combine, and an introduction to the game story and the mystery behind Rainbow Island.”

FIFA 23

Unlike its contemporaries, FIFA 23 signals the end of an era as Electronic Arts’ agreement with FIFA comes to an end. As such, it offers much of what fans expect – over 19,000 players, more than 100 licensed stadiums, 30 licensed leagues, over 700 clubs and so on. In addition to HyperMotion2, which uses machine learning for more than 6,000 animations, and Technical Dribbling for more responsive turning and dribbling, this year features the FA Women’s Super League and French Division 1 Féminine (with more coming post-launch).

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be playable alongside the 2022 FIFA World Cup. And of course, it wouldn’t be FIFA without the return of Ultimate Team, for better or worse. Unfortunately, many of the new gameplay features are exclusive to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC and Google Stadia. Furthermore, the Nintendo Switch is getting the same Legacy Edition as the past few years with very few gameplay changes. With FIFA 23 releasing on September 27th, it remains to be seen if it ends the series on a high note.

Serial Cleaners

As the follow-up to Draw Distance’s 2017 breakout hit, Serial Cleaners leans more into the “fantasy” of portraying a cleaner for the mob. This time, there are four cleaners to choose from, each with their unique skills. However, you’re still working through different environments to dispose of dead bodies, clean up the evidence and avoid any police that happens by.

With a fast degree of stealth, open-ended maps with dynamic scenarios, and a non-linear story with different choices to make, Serial Cleaners promises a gritty experience inspired by Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. It’s out on September 22nd for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC and Nintendo Switch.

Return to Monkey Island

It’s been almost 31 years since the mysterious ending of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge. Director Ron Gilbert thus returns to provide the thrilling conclusion to the saga with Return to Monkey Island, releasing on September 19th for Nintendo Switch and PC. It sees Guybrush Threepwood (reprised by Dominic Armato) getting his mojo back, encountering new and familiar faces, and ultimately, maybe, finally discovering the Secret of Monkey Island.

New locations like Brr Muda and Terror Island await along with reactive dialogue trees, an integrated hint system and even a new Casual Mode for the less hardcore players to enjoy the story.

Session: Skate Sim

Session: Skate Sim has been in early access since September 2019 for PC and Xbox One. Along with dual stick controls, it offers realistic physics, four difficulty levels and various locations to skate in like New York City, Philadelphia and the recently revealed San Francisco. In addition to challenges, which net cash for spending on t-shirts, caps, shoes, and more, players can customize their skateboard with over 250 parts.

There’s also a full-fledged video editor for creating clips, complete with different viewpoints, filters, and so on. Can Session fill the void before the new Skate launches? We’ll find out when version 1.0 arrives on September 22nd on PC, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, and PS5.

505 Games is attached to the project as publisher now, and its newest trailer has shown off more of its stealth action gameplay, stylish visual aesthetic, and its 90s vibe and setting. If you’re someone who enjoys stealth games, you’ll want to keep an eye on this one. Check out the trailer below.

Meanwhile, a release date for Serial Cleaners has also been nailed down (no, it’s not launching in 2021 as initially planned, obviously), and new platforms have been added. The game launches on September 22 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Serial Cleaners puts players in the shoes of 4 “mob cleaners”, tasked with cleaning crime scenes by what seems to be rigging evidence. Each mob cleaner will have some unique abilities, and the story is touted to unfold in a non-linear fashion. The game is set to release later this year for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

The stealth elements look interesting, with visual indicators such as vision cones plastered on the game world itself, hearkening back to Mark of the Ninja and Aragami. Developer Draw Distance has previously worked on a bunch of narrative experiences before all set in the Vampire: The Masquerade universe.