In the high-stakes world of professional sanitation, finding every crime scene cleaner secrets location is the difference between a simple job and a perfect 100% score. As Kovalsky, your primary objective is to scrub away the evidence of the mafia's messy business to fund your daughter's medical treatments, but the environments are filled with more than just bloodstains. Hidden behind breakable walls, tilted lamps, and intricate keycard chains lie caches of extra cash and collectible cassette tapes that enhance your gameplay experience. This comprehensive guide details the crime scene cleaner secrets you need to uncover across every major mission, ensuring you leave no stone unturned and no dollar behind in 2026.
Essential Secret Hunting Mechanics
Before diving into specific missions, it is vital to understand how the game communicates with the player. When you are in close proximity to a hidden area or a valuable collectible, the game will often display a "Secrets Nearby" prompt on your UI. This is your cue to look for inconsistencies in the environment, such as oddly placed furniture, interactable wall fixtures, or wooden boards that can be smashed.
| Mechanic | Description | Primary Use |
|---|---|---|
| Breakable Boards | Wooden slats blocking windows or doors. | Accessing hidden rooms/balconies. |
| Interactable Fixtures | Lamps, books, or paintings that move. | Opening secret compartments. |
| Keycard Chains | Finding one key to unlock a locker containing another key. | Reaching high-security VIP areas. |
| Nightmare Mode | Difficulty setting that replaces cash with Music Boxes. | Collecting unique music disks. |
đź’ˇ Expert Tip: Always carry your vacuum and mop, but don't forget the axe or your fists. Many secrets are locked behind physical barriers that require force to bypass.
Early Mission Secrets: Bad Call to Toxic Love
The initial missions serve as an introduction to the verticality and environmental puzzles found in the game. From the dealer's apartment to the high-end spa, these levels reward players who explore the "out-of-bounds" areas.
Bad Call
This mission features three primary secrets. The first is the Botanical Room. To access it, you must locate two keys: one in the courtyard on a box under the balcony, and another inside a bathroom reached by punching through garbage-blocked corridors on the second floor.
The second secret is the Room Below the Lift. You must walk along the narrow exterior ledge of the building like an assassin to reach a floor below the main apartment. Finally, the Rooftop Den can be accessed by breaking window boards or climbing the tree located behind your cleaning truck.
Trial By Blood
This level is famous for its complex keycard chain. To find the VIP Room, follow these steps:
- Locate card W024 in the tanning room.
- Use it to open locker 24 to find card M034.
- Use M034 to find the VIP Card.
- Swipe the VIP Card on the controller near the digital lock room to unlock a secret area beside the pool.
Toxic Love
The primary secret here is located Behind the Painting in the living room. Look for a vertical frame situated between two lamps. Interacting with it reveals a switch that opens doors on both the ground and first floors, leading to hidden bathrooms and additional collectibles.
Mid-Game Secrets: Short Circuit to Italian Job
As the missions become more complex, the crime scene cleaner secrets require more environmental interaction and puzzle-solving.
| Mission | Secret Name | How to Unlock |
|---|---|---|
| Short Circuit | The Tilted Sconce | Interact with the second tilted lamp on the left in the upstairs hallway. |
| Italian Job | The Casino | Find the key in a kitchen drawer, then open the trapdoor under the dartboard. |
| Italian Job | Secret Concert | Use a ladder to climb the brick wall in the backyard near the waitress. |
| Affair with Death | Laundry Room | Retrieve the key from the upstairs toilet to unlock the ground floor room. |
Modern Art: The SCP Easter Egg
In the "Modern Art" mission, one of the most elaborate crime scene cleaner secrets involves a glass maze and a series of monitors. Upon entering the maze, look up at the ceiling mirrors to see a specific color pattern. Navigate to the corner of the maze where several monitors are located and cycle through the channels until they match the pattern from the ceiling. This opens a compartment containing a Katana, leading to a surreal sequence involving mannequins.
Late Game Mastery: Call in Dead
The final missions test everything you have learned about the game's mechanics. "Call in Dead" is particularly dense with five distinct secrets that require platforming and keen observation.
- Gardener’s Underground Office: Located in the power supply room, you must punch a vent next to the main switch to crawl inside.
- The TV Room: Requires a specific key found in the Hall Ground Floor. The room itself is hidden behind a cardboard cutout in the power supply area.
- The Developer’s Office: This is a meta-secret. In the control room, you must stack chairs or use a stepladder to reach the top of the lockers, then follow the ventilation ducts to drop into a hidden office.
- The Egyptian Room: This requires a blue container key found in the container lot. Once you have it, you can unlock a secret door within the sorting room to find the "Celestial Empire" tape.
⚠️ Warning: In "Call in Dead," be careful not to power more than three panels at once in the control room, or you will blow the fuse and be forced to return to the generator room.
Nightmare Mode: Music Disk Locations
For those playing in Nightmare Mode, the standard cash piles are replaced with eerie Music Boxes. Finding these is essential for players looking to complete their audio collection in 2026.
- Bad Call: Requires a Polaroid camera hunt. You must take four photos of specific locations (Attic, Rooftop, Yard, and Downstairs Apartment) to unlock the darkroom containing the disk.
- Affair with Death: Features a "Duck Puzzle." You must locate 16 cubes scattered around the pool and basketball area and arrange them on the wall to depict a duck.
- Friendly Fire: This involves a "Fish Taxi." You must find a bell in the bathroom vent, place it on the windowsill, and ring it to transport the level into a black-and-white dreamscape where the music box resides.
Cassette Tape Checklist
Collecting every tape is a core part of discovering all crime scene cleaner secrets. Below is a summary of the hardest tapes to find.
| Tape Name | Mission | Specific Location |
|---|---|---|
| Epitaph of a Good Friend | Bad Call | On the shelf in the room below the lift. |
| Out of the Hood | Trial By Blood | Found in room M017 after draining the pool. |
| Hi, I'm Ready to Die | Toxic Love | On the floor next to the bath in the secret painting room. |
| Swishi Swoop | Italian Job | On a drawer inside the hidden Casino. |
| Economy of Pain | Modern Art | Held by a mannequin after completing the monitor puzzle. |
For more information on mission updates and community challenges, visit the Crime Scene Cleaner Steam Page to stay connected with the latest patches.
FAQ
Q: Why can't I find the "Behind Headlines" tape in Affair with Death?
A: This is a common point of confusion. Many players report that this tape is actually a "gift" from Big Jim that appears in your collection automatically after completing the Italian Job mission, rather than being a physical pickup within the level itself.
Q: Do I need to find all secrets to get a Perfect Score?
A: Yes, discovering all crime scene cleaner secrets and hidden areas is a requirement for achieving a 100% completion rating on any given mission. This includes finding all cash piles in Normal mode or Music Boxes in Nightmare mode.
Q: How do I drain the pool in Trial By Blood?
A: You must find two wrenches to tighten the screws on the water pipes in the digital lock room. Once tightened, interact with the square mechanism above the pipes to trigger the drainage, allowing you to reach the items at the bottom.
Q: What happens if I miss a secret and finish the level?
A: You can replay any mission from the level selection screen at your home base. Your progress for collectibles like cassette tapes is saved, but you will need to clean the scene again to "complete" the mission for a new score.