The WereCleaner is a stealth-comedy game published by USC Games.
You play as Kyle Milton, an office janitor who happens to be a werewolf. When he's suddenly assigned night shifts, Kyle is forced to come to work while in wolf form. In order to make rent, he needs to clean messes, avoid eating his co-workers, and stay under the radar of the office security guard...
The WereCleaner released for Windows and iOS platforms on May 7, 2024.
The WereCleaner provides examples of:
- Asshole Victim: Corrupt Corporate Executive Mr. Howl has been killed by the rebelling employees by the start of the final level. Kyle is even given the task of eating his corpse as part of the clean-up.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Even though Daryl had full intent to kill him after finding out about his lycanthropy, Kyle still is noticeably very shaken when he dies.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: One of the collectables is a string of garlic and a wooden stake, which Kyle notes is around the office because one of the other workers is suspected of being a vampire. Despite being a werewolf, Kyle doesn't believe vampires exist.
- Artistic License – Engineering: To take care of the server room on fire, you have to use the Hydro-Blast as a makeshift firehose. Servers are not waterproof.
- Artistic License – Law: Unpaid mandatory night shift overtime on threat of not receiving your standard pay is several kinds of illegal in most Western countries, where the game presumably takes place. Howlin' Hugs and the CEO would've been sued into the ground if the angry mob hadn't gotten to him first.
- Artistic License – Linguistics: The very title. The "were" part of werewolf means "man" as in "man-wolf", hence it would indicate someone that turns into a cleaner rather than a cleaner that turns into a wolf.
- Art-Style Dissonance: A gory Black Comedy where the protagonist is at risk of tearing innocent people around him limb from limb... with Animal Crossing-esque character designs.
- Bad Powers, Good People: Kyle's lycanthropy causes him to uncontrollably maul someone to death if they panic near him while he's in his werewolf form. To prevent this, he stays indoors in his apartment at night so he doesn't hurt anyone. Unfortunately, he has to work nightly overtime if he still wants his paycheck which he needs to make rent.
- Berserk Button: Kyle is a meek guy, even while in werewolf form, but someone panicking near him is enough for him to immediately go feral and kill any witnesses.
- Big Eater: If Kyle mauls someone, he has to eat the body afterwards. You can maul everyone in a level, though you'll be tight on time. Kyle is able to fit ALL the bodies without making a dent on his figure, even if some of the mass is lost to the Ludicrous Gibs made in this way. Some of the later levels even have upwards of thirty people in them, not including Daryl and Kyle himself!
- Bittersweet Ending: Daryl accidentally falls to his death trying to kill Kyle, who is clearly still traumatized from it by the time he gets back to his apartment. Add to the fact that the CEO of Howlin' Hugs is dead and the future of the company is in question. But on the plus side, at least Kyle still got his paycheck and can make rent!
- Bottomless Magazines: Daryl's shotgun can fire at least a dozen shells in quick succession and without reloading. This wouldn't be too strange if not for the fact that it's a double barrel shotgun.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Mr Howl, Howlin' Hugs' CEO is a jerk who makes poor decisions and abuses his employees, doing things like enforcing unpaid overtime. The awful working conditions cause a rebellion to form within the office, whose members murder the CEO sometime between Days 6 and 7.
- Determinator: Nothing will stop Kyle from getting his paycheck this week, not even being forced to work nights where he could end up tearing apart his co-workers. Even once Daryl finds out his secret and starts chasing him around the office with a shotgun, Kyle will still clean up the messes his job requires him to.
- Disney Villain Death: Daryl's ultimate fate, who plummets from the office window to their death.
- Don't Look At Me: Kyle is triggered to kill those who get a good look and panic at the sight of his wolf form.
- Eat the Evidence: Once Kyle kills a witness, he'll have to eat the body before cleaning up the remains. Failure to do so means more of a mess when the bodies are found.
- Food Fight: Kyle is required to clean up the remains of one, as part of his janitorial duties.
- Furry Reminder: Overlaps with "Harmful to Pets" Reminder. Kyle can't eat chocolate even in human form due to being a werewolf. He disguises this by telling others he simply has a distaste for the stuff, which is why one of his coworkers - who often brings chocolate chip cookies to share at the office - makes sure to always bake one peanut butter cookie for Kyle specifically. You can actually obtain said cookie as a collectible.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: Even if Kyle doesn't kill anyone on the first night, Daryl will still find a tuft of fur with what seems to be blood on it; He does note that it could be jam rather than blood, however.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Kyle has no choice but to kill any witnesses and erase any evidence of his maulings. It's part of official Werewolf Society Integrated procedure, as stated in the were-manual. This trope is slightly Deconstructed, though, thanks to the No-kills bonus; the game tracks whether or not you've mauled anyone at all, even if Daryl doesn't.
- Killer Rabbit: Kyle's werewolf form is absolutely adorable, but you don't want to panic near him when he's like that.
- Leave No Witnesses: As mentioned above, If a co-worker spots a dead body that Kyle has left behind, the player is required to kill them and clean both corpses to finish the level. This can indeed chain between maulings.
- Locked Out of the Loop: There is clearly a worker's revolt going on over the course of the week to protest the CEO's bad decisions, with the unpaid overtime being the straw that broke the camel's back. Despite this, there's no indication that Kyle is involved. In fact, the protests only add to Kyle's workload as he has to clean up after everyone.
- Ludicrous Gibs:
- Eating a co-worker causes their body to be torn into a cartoonish pile of blood and guts, which Kyle must then clean up.
- Getting shot by Daryl on Day 7 causes Kyle to explode into giblets.
- At the end of the game, this happens to Daryl when he falls from the office window. Kyle then cleans up his remains, too.
- No OSHA Compliance: Howlin' Hugs is not a safe place to work at, even without the werewolves around to maul you to death. Just in the one week where Kyle works night shitfts there's been a fire in the server room and a fatal forklift crash.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: Kyle turns into a werewolf every night. He can control himself mostly normally, but if anyone panics near him, he loses control and mauls them to death.
- Sanity Slippage: Security guard Daryl slowly loses it as he becomes more and more determined to catch the "dangerous animal" loose in the office. When he eventually discovers that Kyle is a werewolf, he goes completely berserk and chases him around the office with a shotgun. This ultimately gets him killed.
- Skewed Priorities: Once Kyle realizes his life may be in danger, he freaks out about how this means he might not be able to make rent.
"Daryl said he's gonna snuff the life out of the monster. If I don't think a way out of this, Daryl's gonna kill me. AND IF I'M DEAD, THEN HOW AM I GONNA PAY MY RENT?!"
- Stealth-Based Game: A co-worker panicking in proximity to Kyle will cause him to go uncontrollable and kill them, which can lead to even worse problems if any witnesses saw the murder. There's even a bonus for beating a stage without killing anyone.
- String Theory: Daryl uses a classic string chart as part of his investigation to find who or what is behind the "wild animal" loose on the building. We get a good look at this chart during the cutscene in which he puts two and two together and realizes Kyle is a werewolf.
- Summoning Ritual: One of the messes Kyle is required to clean up is the bloodied remains of a satanic ritual, with a pentagram circle on the ground and large, inhuman footprints leading out of said circle.
- The Little Detecto: The Were-Tracker 200 is a device that allows one to detect and track a werewolf, given one has a sample of their fur. Daryl uses it during his rampage to hunt down Kyle.
- Throwing the Distraction: The player can launch paper balls to distract co-workers, who will temporarily leave their position to dispose of them.
- Villain Has a Point: Daryl is supposed to be the villain of the last day despite having a good point that even on a complete Pacifist Run, Kyle was endangering his coworkers every day by coming in. Of course, he loses his validity pretty quickly when he decides the best punishment for this endangerment is execution by shotgun. He also loses his validity in that Kyle's under threat from a Morton's Fork; it's either unpaid overtime in close proximity to coworkers and risk their spotting him, or miss rent and be evicted (meaning the lives of more people than just the employees are endangered).
- Werewolves Are Dogs: Not so much in behavior, but definitely in looks. With the lolling tongue, puppydog eyes, and occasional tail wags, you'd be excused for mistaking Kyle's werewolf form for a cuddly dog-man.
- Werewolf Theme Naming: Inverted. The CEO Mr. Howl is not a werewolf, but the average-named Kyle Milton is.
- Wonderful Werewolf: Downplayed. Kyle remains (somewhat) in control of himself in werewolf form. He retains his mental faculties, his meek demeanor, and tries his best not to hurt anyone. His instincts get the better of him, though, when he senses people panicking at the sight of him. He regains self-control moments after, but by then a great big mess has already been made.
- Working-Class Werewolves: Kyle makes minimum wage as a janitor and struggles to make rent. At the end of the game, he gets his weekly paycheck: $119.50.
