Have you ever plunged into a dungeon, defeated the final boss, looted the treasure chest, and just… walked away? Ever spared a thought for the poor souls who have to clean up the gory mess you left behind? Goblin Cleanup answers that question with a hilarious, chaotic, and utterly original twist on the dungeon crawler formula.

Forget the hero’s journey. This is the janitor’s journey.

In this debut co-op simulation game from Crisalu Games and Team17, you don’t play as the adventurer seeking glory and gold. You play as the underpaid, overworked goblin cleanup crew hired by dungeon management to make the place presentable for the next wave of would-be heroes. Your job is simple: take a biohazard site and turn it back into a pristine deathtrap, all while trying not to become part of the mess yourself.

Your Daily To-Do List (If You Survive)

As a professional Goblin Maid, your duties are varied, critical, and incredibly dangerous. Your toolkit includes a Slimop (a living slime mop), a mimic “organics” dispenser, your trusty managon, and a strong stomach. Your tasks include:

• Cleaning Up the Gore: The floors, walls, and even ceilings are coated in blood, viscera, and unidentified chunks. Whip out your tools and get scrubbing.
• Restoring the Decor: Those ornate pots and skeletons didn’t arrange themselves. You must place every last object back in its original spot.
• Re-arming Traps: A dungeon isn’t a proper dungeon without a few swinging pendulums and loaded ballistae. You need to reset them all. Watch your step—some might still be active!
• Dealing with the “Talent”: You’re not just cleaning up monsters; you’re respawning them. Dispose of the old remains and usher in the new batch. But be warned: some “corpses” might be playing possum.
• Restocking the Loot: Those heroes emptied every last chest. It’s your job to refill them with shiny treasures for the next group to plunder.

Chaotic Co-Op

You can tackle this filthy job alone, but the real magic (and the real chaos) begins when you work with up to three friends online. Goblin Cleanup is designed as a cooperative experience where communication (or the lack thereof) is key.

Will you work together efficiently to divide and conquer the tasks? Or will you accidentally spring a trap on your friend, forcing them to respawn while you have to clean up their… remains? The game seems to encourage a healthy mix of both as your well-intentioned cleaning operation descends into a slapstick comedy of errors. Trust me, I’ve been playing with my friends, and its led to as many laughs as near-strangulations. 

A Dynamic and Dangerous Workplace

Goblin Cleanup promises dynamic dungeons filled with unique challenges and hazards. One day you might be cleaning a standard crypt, the next you could be de-oozing a magical laboratory where the slimes have multiplied out of control. The environment itself is your greatest adversary, constantly threatening to turn your cleaning run into a survival horror game.

This goes double if you’re taking on the optional gold-slime challenges. Yes, you could deactivate the laser orb threatening your life to clean in peace, but where’s the fun in that? If you want those gold slimes you better hustle before that eye blasts you into oblivion! 

Clean-up on the Coding Aisle!

Having played the demo and now the early access versions of Goblin Cleanup there’s a lot that Crisalu Games are looking to improve on. The current build has opened up character customization, which is pretty amazing. Getting to build a unique look from your friends really helps the confusion of you all looking alike. I’m still looking forward to the male goblin builds to come out though. My friend has been cross-dressing for quite a while!

I had some trouble with the music cutting out in the demo and thankfully it looks like they fixed that. However the new levels that they’ve opened up have some minor issues. Things like hit-boxes around doors being too big, making it difficult to move furniture through, and issues with key objects becoming invisible to some players in the lobby. Have you tried mopping up viscera without a proper slime? Its bloody hard!

Despite that, for Crisalu Games’ first foray into game development, Goblin Cleanup is pretty dang solid. The devs are a team of three from Uruguay and Argentina, self-funded and working part-time on Goblin Cleanup during their free hours and weekends. They’re planning on finishing the game in the next 24 months, with a lot of ideas on expanding gameplay and content. They’re consistently reviewing feedback to fix bugs and improve the game design, so don’t hesitate to leave reviews and shoot the team messages on their X account.

Clock in Later for Updates!

There’s more than customizables in store for the future. We’re looking at four more levels for the Dark Tower coming out sooner or later. There are also four other complete Dungeons that have yet to be unlocked, each ostensibly with twelve levels of their own. Goblin Cleanup is going to expand massively in the next two years of development, so its only fair we come back to it once the demo dust has settled.

Priced at $20 today, Goblin Cleanup is only going to get pricier in the future. Even with the current glitches, I’d say its a steal right now. If you’d rather wait, but don’t want to miss out on the fun, feel free to check out our YouTube and enjoy!