The original PowerWash Simulator is one of my favourite games. I know, I know, but hear me out. Sometimes, when you’ve had a busy day at work, you don’t want to play something that’s going to get your heart racing, or scare you, or fill you with… emotions. Sometimes you don’t even really want to think. Enter PowerWash Simulator, a game where you could switch your brain off while you slowly and methodically clean things. I’ve always likened it to the digital equivalent of colouring in: it’s calming, very zen, and you can just lock in as the world around you disappears. I’m pleased to say that PowerWash Simulator 2 continues in this vein, making some smart tweaks that improve the experience in subtle yet meaningful ways.
It starts with the controls. In the first game, the controller layout was a little unusual, with you regularly needing to reach over to the D-Pad for basic functions, like locking the camera or toggling on your power washer. Everything’s been updated now to feel more like a standard FPS. Toggling through washers is done through Y/Triangle, crouch is on B/Circle and everything is just easier. It’s one less thing to think about, removing a small point of friction from the original so you can focus more on cleaning and reaching a state of relaxation.
Your equipment makes more sense this time too. You earn money as you progress through jobs, which can be spent on new nozzles, extensions and washers, including the new surface cleaner that makes you more efficient on floors. There’s a smooth, gentle progression as you start to earn more money and pick up more powerful washers and the equipment that goes with them. The first game had a convoluted system involving cleaning solutions for specific surfaces that had stubborn grime on them. These were weirdly finite, and the game would often limit how many you could have, so it just felt like they existed to provide something else to spend your money on. In PowerWash Simulator 2 all you need to do is buy a spray nozzle, and your multi-purpose cleaning fluid is limited only by the area you cover with it. There’s no need to manage supplies or buy more, and it makes things easier so you can focus on the task at hand.
As with the previous game, the levels are the stars of the show. There’s a ton of variety on offer here, ranging from small vehicles to huge houses and multi-stage levels that open up further as you progress. They’re packed with little nooks and interactive elements to clean and every level I’ve tried so far has felt like it fits perfectly with the weird and wonderful world of PowerWash Simulator. My favourite was a funfair shooting gallery, where I realised partway through that pyramid I was cleaning was a replica of the final level from the first game. I looked around and realised, much to my glee, that everything in here was from the first game, including planes, UFO’s, temples and more. It’s that level of care and detail that goes into every stage that makes them so much fun to clean.
You’ve been blessed with new tools for getting around the levels and reaching their highest points too. Scaffolding makes a return, but it’s more versatile with ladders running up the sides, ensuring it’s valuable in nearly every large level. Abseiling equipment is a new addition that helps you move horizontally and vertically in high areas more easily, and a scissor lift rounds out your arsenal. These are somewhat useful, although most of the time I prefer the tried and tested method of parkouring around the levels, jumping on walls or off scaffolding to get to hard-to-reach locations.
I appreciated these new additions when I needed them, though. The game also makes it much easier to locate things to clean when you near the end of a level too. Gone are the days of cleaning until the level is 99% complete and then going through your menu to locate and mark each individual section that was unfinished. Now the game just adds crosshairs and a subtle flashing effect as you reach the end of the level, reducing the need to hunt down a single dirty hinge in a 10,000 square foot house.
The sequel’s had a glow up too. It’s got the same cheerful visual style of the previous entry but feels a bit more alive. Dirt splatters back at you as you blast the walls of a mansion with your most powerful nozzle, matching the colour of the dirt you’re spraying, as water now runs down the wall. Dandelions float through the air and enter your periphery, and more detail is visible in and around the levels, all elevating the experience.
When you’re not cleaning every nook and cranny of Muckingham, you can relax in your home base. I wasn’t too keen on this, to be honest, it felt a bit like an excuse to sell you cosmetics to decorate a space that you’ve otherwise got no reason to spend time in. If you want to roleplay as a small business owner though then you’ve got plenty of ways you can decorate your office. While out and about on jobs you’ll regularly be bombarded with text messages from the locals which chip away at more Muckingham mysteries, something players of the original will find familiar. I tend to enter a fugue state when power washing though, completely incapable of tearing my eyes away from the centre of the screen, which sadly means most of the story passes me by. It’s the same issue I had with the original game, although I’m so locked in on the cleaning mechanics that I’m not sure I’d want to change how the story is told.
PowerWash Simulator 2 is an easy sell to those who have never tried the original, and an even easier sell to those who loved it. It’s one of the best examples of an iterative sequel I’ve seen in a while, retaining everything I loved about the first game while smoothing out some of the rougher edges. Relaxing and hypnotic, you’ll lose hours to this game every time you pick up the controller, and you’ll come back time after time for more.
