On the heels of trying out Restore Your Island, I wanted to try Clean Up Earth. Not only has it been on my radar for a while, but I wanted to see how they play, how they’re alike, and how they differ. Long story short, I think they’re both great for different reasons, but I just might prefer Clean Up Earth a bit more.
In Clean Up Earth, you can play solo or with others. You’re plopped down on several different islands that have been overtaken by trash, and it’s your job to clean them up. Once you clean everything, the island will restore its beauty and you can move on to the next.
As you move on, the islands get bigger, but so does the trash. The types of trash will change as well, from microplastics to garbage to trash bags and even up to whole shipping containers.
You’ll feel a bit like a Ghostbuster as you run around picking up trash with what could essentially be a proton pack, the Terra Cleaner. You aim the nozzle at the trash, press a button, and then watch it all get caught by a beam that sucks it up and away from the land. You can then take that trash to the recycler for a bit of money.
At the recycler, you’ll be able to buy upgrades and collect rewards for little quests that are as simple as clearing a specific area or jumping three times. The quests are important because that’s where the bulk of your money will be coming from. Weirdly, clearing and recycling trash is a thankless job and nets you very little in revenue. I guess it’s like real life in that way.
The upgrades you buy are generally different nozzles that you can switch between. Each nozzle has its own benefits and drawbacks. The first nozzle will cover a wider area of land and allow you to move faster, but it doesn’t pick up the bigger trash. Whereas the nozzle that allows you to pick up almost anything is a narrower circle and makes you move a lot slower.
Watch the trailer for Clean Up Earth!
Here’s where I have some qualms, and it may just be down to not having a good tutorial. The game tries to give you some direction, but then kind of lets you free-fall a bit like a momma bird. Fly or fall, you have to figure it out.
There are some items called gadgets that you can rent, like a radar to show you missed trash or, more importantly, a vacuum that will increase your sucking power for a limited time. This gadget is invaluable because by the time you get up to shipping containers, you don’t have enough power, even with your smallest nozzle, to move them.
However, when you go to rent the vacuum… there are no instructions on how to equip it. It tells you there’s a finite amount of seconds, but no timer pops up. It doesn’t autoapply because even after buying it, I couldn’t do anything with the shipping container. I thought I might need to buy the upgrade for “bulky” items, but even after upgrading to the full 10 levels on it, I was still lacking 9% to pick up the shipping containers.
The rentable gadgets are made essential, and I haven’t the faintest clue how to employ them. Money is a bit of a precious commodity since picking up trash doesn’t do much, so it wasn’t like I could continually buy the upgrade in order to figure it out.
I hope that there’s a better tutorial when the full game releases, because it was a bit frustrating to stall out with no guide to point me in the right direction.
Other than that little kerfuffle, however, I really enjoyed playing Clean Up Earth. It was methodical and deeply satisfying to watch the debris get sucked up. You could visually see a difference, and you felt like you were working toward something. Add in the fact that you didn’t have to go back and forth to the recycle station, and it was pure joy.
Also, there’s a multiplayer function, so you could play online with your friends or even strangers. This demo ended on a multiplayer map (where the dreaded shipping containers made their unwelcome debut), and while I was the only one there, it gave the impression that anyone could hop right in. So, I get the feeling that even if your friends don’t play, you can still experience the community of working with others to beautify the land.
Personally, I’m really excited to play Clean Up Earth when it launches. If you haven’t played the demo yet, then I highly recommend that you give it a shot. If you like what you see, go ahead and wishlist the game, as that helps out the developers. While you’re here, go ahead and check out some of the other demos we’ve covered, like Block Block Block or A Storied Life: Tabitha.
