A practical guide to cleaning a Viscera Cleanup Detail level to a passing score without making the mess worse: tools, the right order of operations, co-op etiquette, the level list, collectibles and achievement tips.
Researched September 2026. Current as of the final 2015 release build of VCD (Unreal Engine 3). RuneStorm's active work is now the sequel, VCD 2, which is still in development as of their December 2025 update. Check the linked sources if something differs.
| Tool / station | What it does | Tips |
|---|---|---|
| Mop | Cleans blood pools, splats and soot | Dip often; a dirty mop smears |
| Broom | Sweeps casings and small debris into piles | Sweep into a pile, then bin the pile |
| Sniffer | Detects remaining mess | Use it in the last pass of every room |
| PDA | Keeps notes about the level | Useful for tracking which rooms are done |
| Gloves / hands | Carry bodies, limbs, trash and items | Carry one item at a time; use bins for bulk |
| Bucket dispenser (the Slosh-O-Matic) | Provides clean water buckets | Get a new bucket rather than rinsing in red water |
| Bin dispenser | Provides bins for carrying many items | Mind your hands on the bin machine |
| Incinerator | Destroys anything you put in it | Your main disposal route |
| Plasma welder | Repairs wall damage; burns items | Fixes bullet-hole and scorch damage |
| Medkits and light sources | Found around many levels | Punching out with medkits restocks them (and counts toward "First Aid") |
| Woodchipper (some levels) | Shreds items | Counts toward "Not Quite a Lumberjack" (200 items) |
When you punch out, the game grades how much of the mess is gone and moves you to The Office. That's your personal room, with your score, news clippings about any consequences of your work, and any trophies you've carried home.
Walk the whole level once without touching blood. Find the incinerator, the bucket and bin dispensers, and any hazards. Pick a "clean route" between the dispensers and the incinerator.
Carry bodies and large parts to the incinerator. Put small bits (limbs, organs, trash) in bins and burn the whole bin. Clear casings with the broom into piles, then bin them.
Weld bullet holes and wall damage before you mop around it, so you aren't working over a finished floor while you do it. The welder also fries loose items, which is handy for small junk far from the incinerator (500 fried items is the "Disintegrator" achievement).
Work from the far end of a room toward the door so you never walk back over clean floor. Keep a fresh bucket nearby, dip after every few strokes, and swap buckets before the water saturates.
Carry dirty buckets to the incinerator and burn them. Don't carry them through areas you've already cleaned if you can help it.
Walk each room with the sniffer and clean anything it picks up. This is where you go from about 85% to 95% and above.
Only when the whole map is done.
These are the official levels named in the Steam achievements, so completing each one is also an achievement:
| Level | Achievement |
|---|---|
| Evil Science | Surgical Sweeper |
| Waste Disposal | Operation Brownwash |
| Caduceus | Anti-Virus |
| Frostbite | Cold Storage |
| Unrefinery | Refined |
| Paintenance | Deep-Sea Dry-cleaning |
| Revolutionary Robotics | Brushed Steel |
| Uprising | Swept Under The Carpet |
| Hydroponic Hell | Pine Fresh |
| Cryogenesis | Ice-Cold Cleana |
| Gravity Drive | Louis and Clean |
| Pestilent Penitentiary | Pest Control |
| Core Sample | Crystal Clear |
| Overgrowth | Bushwhacked |
| Incubation Emergency | Biomassive Breakdown |
| Unearthly Excavation | Sandblasted |
| Athena's Wrath | The Mops Of Wrath |
| Penumbra | Bleach and Clear |
Completing all the major official levels unlocks "One Mop To Rule Them All."
Add-ons and spin-offs:
| Add-on | Clean-up achievement | Other goals |
|---|---|---|
| House of Horror | "House of Honor" (clean the entire level) | Horror-film homage props; the achievement list has several horror-prop pickups (a clawed glove, an axe, a mask and machete, a white mask and butcher knife), each earned by carrying it back to your office |
| The Vulcan Affair | "Lair Care" (clean the entire level) | "Audacious Oddities" (all its unique collectibles), feeding the sharks 500 items, and several orbital-beam gags |
| Santa's Rampage | "Cleanliness is Godliness" (clean all mess and clock off) | A clean run without breaking any Christmas items, a destroy-every-item run, and a deliberately worse-mess run are all separate achievements, so plan three runs |
| Shadow Warrior | "Sanitary Supremacy" (clean the entire temple) | Carry the two million dollars of cash back to your office in one go |
Friends can clean together online through Steam, and split-screen co-op is also supported. Mac users should note that the macOS version lacks Steam multiplayer, Workshop and achievements. Co-op roles that work:
| Role | Job |
|---|---|
| Hauler | Moves bodies, bins and debris to the incinerator |
| Mopper | Floors and walls, keeps a clean bucket supply |
| Fixer | Welding and sniffer sweeps |
| Runner | Fetches buckets and bins, disposes of dirty buckets |
Agree on a clean route and a "no walking through wet blood" rule, or you'll spend the session re-mopping footprints.
The Steam Workshop has a huge number of community levels and props. They're the main way to keep playing once the official levels are done. Official-level achievements need the official maps.
There are 85 Steam achievements (Windows only). They split into four kinds, and it pays to know which is which before you start a level.
One per official level (see the table above), plus "Spring Fresh" for adequately cleaning any map and "One Mop To Rule Them All" for completing all the major official levels. Get these on your normal passing runs.
These tick up across every level and every session, so never grind them on purpose:
| Achievement | Target |
|---|---|
| Bloody Hell! | Mop up 10,000 splats |
| Blaze of Glory | Incinerate 2,000 items |
| Top Brass | Pick up 800 casings |
| Taking Out the Trash | Pick up 1,000 pieces of trash |
| The Nose Knows | Use the sniffer for a total of 2 hours |
| Need a Hand? | Receive 35 helping hands from the Slosh-O-Matic |
| First Aid | Restock 50 medkits by punching out with them |
| Pedestrian | Track over 20,000 footprints |
| Identity Theft | Carry 30 or more P.I.D.s from cleaned levels to your office |
| Employee of the Year | 12 Employee of the Month awards |
Several achievements reward messing up, so do them on a throwaway save or a level you've already passed: "You're Fired!" (get fired), "Blood Soaked" (spill 100 dirty buckets), "Who's for Dinner?" (get eaten), "Lost in Space and Time" (get consumed by a space-time crack), "Thunder Candle" (TNT yourself), "Bins? Limbs!" (get hurt by the bin machine 75 times), "Tower of Babel" (stack 10 stools) and the various Big Banger destruction achievements.
"Janicide" (blow up a fellow worker with the red explosive charge), "Pass The Torch" (take a lit flare from another janitor) and "Locked In" (lock another player in a holding cell) need a second player. Warn your partner first.
The "return it to your office" achievements (ring, P.I.D.s, heads, painted eggs, Rooks Keep figurines, Ballistic Weapons toys, film props) and the capstone "Keep It Secret, Keep It Safe" (all unique and hidden collectibles). You have to get the item home to your office when you punch out, and a failing score (under 75%) costs you what you've collected, so only do collectible runs on levels you'll pass. "Bob's Legacy" (find Bob) and "Red Keycard" (unlock Bob's secret stash room) are hidden; a Steam community guide is the fastest way to find them.
What score do I need to pass a level? At least 75%. Below that, you're fired and lose accumulated office items.
How do I find the last bits of mess? Use the sniffer, and check ceilings, walls and behind furniture.
Do I get Santa's Rampage and Shadow Warrior with the game? Yes. Both spin-offs are included with Viscera Cleanup Detail, and Santa's Rampage is also installed as a standalone copy.
Is there split-screen co-op? Yes, alongside online co-op on Windows. The macOS version doesn't have Steam multiplayer.
Is Viscera Cleanup Detail 2 out? Not as of September 2026. RuneStorm is building it in Unreal Engine 5 and is working toward an early showcase build; their December 2025 update said it was still in progress.
How do I avoid spreading blood with footprints? Clean doorways and routes first, avoid wet pools, and don't mop yourself into a corner.