''The WereCleaner'' is a 2024

freeware Freeware is software, often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the free ...

video game. It was developed by Howlin' Hugs and published by USC Games for

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

, and Android.

Gameplay

In ''The WereCleaner'', the player controls Kyle, an ordinary janitor who is secretly a

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...

. After being assigned to work a night shift, Kyle must perform his duties and clean up messes in his wolf form while avoiding his co-workers, who he will attack and kill if they spot him. If he kills a co-worker, he must also clean up the carnage. Kyle's main cleaning implement is a hose, though he later acquires a vacuum and sacks for capturing small animals. The sacks can also be used to temporarily blind co-workers. Kyle can also distract his co-workers with balls of trash, which they will throw away if they find them.

Plot

Howlin' Hugs, a company that produces plush toys, employs Kyle as a janitor. One night the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

sends out an email demanding that all employees work nights for one week of unpaid

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

, specifying that anyone who refuses to work will not be paid. Kyle, who is secretly a werewolf, reluctantly goes to work so he can make rent. Over the next week, he cleans up his office in his wolf form while attempting to avoid his co-workers, who he'll uncontrollably kill if they spot him. Security guard Daryl grows increasingly obsessed with hunting down the monster in the office. While this is going on, the employees begin rebelling against their treatment, culminating in the CEO's unexplained death in the office. On the last night of the week, Daryl discovers Kyle's secret after reviewing security camera footage of him. He confronts Kyle and denounces him as a threat to the office (regardless of whether Kyle has killed anyone), hunting him down as Kyle attempts to perform his duties. Kyle escapes out a window followed by Daryl, who falls to his death. Kyle cleans up his remains before at last receiving his paycheck for the week, amounting to $119.

Development

''The WereCleaner'' was developed by a team of students at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. It was pitched as a

stealth game A stealth game is a type of video game in which the player primarily uses ''stealth'' to avoid or overcome opponents. Games in the video game genre, genre typically allow the player to remain undetected by hiding, sneaking, or using disguises. S ...

where the player character is stronger than their enemies, as opposed to the reverse. After spending a year in development, it was released as freeware as a part of the school's annual game expo. Many of the game's

non-player character A non-player character (NPC) is a character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster (or referee) rather than by a ...

s are directly modeled after members of the development team.

Reception

Glenn Bunn of ''

Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and comic books. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publications including Comic Book Resources, Collider, MovieWeb and XDA Developers. ...

'' praised the game's humor and twist on the stealth genre. He was particularly impressed with the title's quality given the fact that it was freeware and the developers were college students. By November 2024, ''The WereCleaner'' had reached one million downloads across all platforms. At the 2024 App Store Awards, ''The WereCleaner'' was nominated for "iPhone Game of the Year". At the 2025

Independent Games Festival The Independent Games Festival (IGF) is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of the independent video game industry. Originally founded in 1998 to promote independent video game developers, ...

, it was nominated for "Best Student Game". At the ceremony, it won the Audience Award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:WereCleaner, The 2024 video games Android (operating system) games Freeware games Independent Games Festival winners Indie games iOS games Simulation video games Single-player video games Stealth video games Video games developed in the United States Werewolf video games Windows games Works about janitors