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GAME REVIEW: Cleaning Up!

Title: Cleaning Up!

Developer: Unbound Creations

Release Date: April 15, 2026

Reviewed On: PC

Price: $13.49

Turn huge messes into sparkling spaces! Feel the satisfaction of restoring them to order with your super-powered cleaning tools. The quick, cozy joy of tidying up!

Disclosure: Boss Rush Network received a review code for the PC version of Cleaning Up! Unbound Creations did not make any stipulations upon this review, nor did they or any representatives read it prior to publication.

Analysis

Gameplay

View

The player character seems to float disconnected from the environments we’re meant to clean, which makes an already unsatisfying experience even less visually enjoyable. Otherwise, the cutesy art style is in line with some of Unbound Creations’ more recent releases, but the offsetting between the character and the environment undermines the cute.

A chaotic scene in an indoor food court featuring a hot dog stand surrounded by scattered trash and people dining at tables. The floor is littered with debris, creating a messy environment.
Player Character View (Image Credit: Unbound Creations)
Game Controls

Players are advised to use game controllers; however, the functionality on keyboard and mouse is equivalent, and in both cases the character’s movement has a bit of an end-slip where the character keeps moving even after you take your fingers off the controls. If you walk forward and turn on the vacuum with a turn to one side or another at the end, you’ll wiggle and wobble and even spin at some points, resulting in potential damage penalties in later levels.

A colorful illustration of an indoor space with two rooms featuring furniture, plants, and decorations. Text on the screen reads, 'I am shiny, I am clean! I can't wait to have people inside me and show them my... art!' with options to 'Retry' and 'Continue.'
Museum Request (Image Credit: Unbound Creations)
Tools

The player begins the first level with only a vacuum, but by the second, they have a broom as well. A mop, sprayer, and then an air freshener follow, allowing the player to go back and earn a higher score in prior levels by using their new equipment. Money earned during each request can be used to improve your tools. All tools are used the same with the player rotating through them as needed for the environmental trigger.

Image showing cleaning equipment options with detailed attributes including Broom, Vacuum, The Sprayer, Mop, and Air Freshener, each displaying range, strength, capacity, and pricing information.
Tools (Image Credit: Unbound Creations)
Requests

Not including locations simply for learning new tools, there are 20 request areas. Each time you earn a new tool, you become able to go back to earlier requests and clean at a higher star level. As long as the player hits 100% on each tool, the player earns a star. There are some tasks outside the norm such as a hidden pizza slices or a clock puzzle; however, the player is more likely to run into penalty additions such as levels where you have to avoid hazards.

A digital map displaying various locations marked with icons such as an apartment, castle, museum, and diner, highlighting requests and completed tasks with stars and checkmarks.
Request Locations (Image Credit: Unbound Creations)

Many of these locations will look rather familiar to those who have played other games by Unbound Creations, especially Rain on Your Parade.

Character Modification

As the player go through the requests / levels, they earn different hats and character model updates which can be purchased using the in-game currency. Options are limited to 20 hats and 20 different outfits or forms. Some referenced characters include Mario and Wario among other references.

A character dressed in a ghost skin wearing a pirate hat, displayed in a cozy room setting with a plant and a lamp.
Avatar (Image Credit: Unbound Creations)

Final Score (2 out of 5 Stars)

Rating: 2 out of 5.
A cartoon sponge character with a smiling face speaks a humorous line about avoiding human interaction, set in a snowy street scene with festive decorations.

There isn’t much to the game, but that isn’t unique. A lot of simulators are straightforward and simple with that being part of the cathartic experience. Unfortunately, the graphics and motion are too disjointed to be soothing or even satisfying. If there was a story intended, it wasn’t clearly communicated, and the dialogue is frankly unsettling with a subtle threatening undertone that could come across as sardonic or even hinting at a horror beneath the banality of the game play, but the writing falls short.

If this were Unbound Creations’ first game, I’d be a bit more encouraging. They keep the menu simple, and the controls are straightforward even if the player character has some motion slipping that gets frustrating especially when doing jumps. However, this isn’t the studio’s first game, and they’ve had a number of releases that are far more enjoyable to play with a tongue-in-cheek cutesy horror to them if not an outright goblinmode hilarity like Just Crow Things. Frankly, this game feels like being an NPC in one of their other games, left to deal with the irritation of unsatisfying roles rather than enjoying the chaos of causing the mess.

I played straight through in a little over an hour, get 90% of achievements during that time. The most enjoyable levels were the Cemetery, Library, and Mansion. After finishing, I went back to those three in hopes of finding something hidden in the levels. Unfortunately, a lot of the chaotic mischief in their other games comes from how characters react to what you’ve done, so that really only leaves the cats and the cars in the Finale, but that didn’t result in much. If you’re going to buy one of their games, I’d suggest just skipping this one and going for the cloud or the crow.

Tell us what you think! Will you be playing Cleaning Up? Share your reactions in the comments below or join the conversation on Boss Rush Network’s Discord and Facebook.

Source: Unbound Creations


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