PowerWash Simulator 2 preview: A powerfully clean experience
By Ryan Woodrow
I kept my distance from the first PowerWash Simulator game for one simple reason: I knew I’d get addicted. These “tedious job” games do something to my brain that keeps me there, transfixed, while I listen to music or a podcast, and before I know it, I’ve logged over a hundred hours in games like House Flipper and Euro Truck Simulator. That’s why I knew getting too close to PowerWash Sim would be bad for my free time, and having now played a couple of hours of PowerWash Simulator 2, I was right to be fearful.
My biggest question going in was what on earth could be added to a game like this for a sequel, outside of just more levels? Turns out, a fair bit. First of all, you now have multi-stage jobs, where rather than cleaning everything in just one map, you’ll progress through multiple areas to complete a job. The other major feature is more objects and equipment that you can buy to make your life easier.
For example, the level I spent most of my time on was a billboard by the side of a highway. This massive structure would’ve been a massive pain to clean in the original — especially the underside of the billboard platform many feet up in the air. However, you can now get your hands on scaffolding of various heights to make these kinds of levels possible, giving you a movable platform that expands the kinds of levels on offer. Then, when I’d progressed all the way up and it was time to clean the billboard itself, I got to strap myself into a movable harness to easily maneuver around both sides of the massive structure.
A billboard is the kind of structure that would take absolutely ages to wash with just a pressure washer, though, which is why this game also introduces what is arguably the most requested feature from fans of the original: the surface cleaner. While this is a game about finding satisfaction in a tedious task, having to clean things like the floor of a huge children’s play park arguably crossed the line where things get too mind-numbing to be worth the satisfaction. Adding the surface cleaner gives you an option to speed up cleaning large flat surfaces like this (once you’ve earned enough money to unlock it) and further expands the possible scale of levels.
As for the main point of the gameplay, the powerwashing, it’s as satisfying as ever, with a handful of minor improvements to the visuals that give you that satisfying feedback of gradually making a horrifically dirty thing nice and clean. Some animations have been added to show the water running down the surface, though it is just visual, it doesn’t actually affect any of the dirt as it trickles down, nor does it realistically drain off the bottom, which is a shame, but I wasn’t expecting hyper-realistic liquid physics.
There’s also been an attempt to make finding those last little bits of dirt easier to find. You still have the button that highlights any remaining dirt, but you now also have a checklist of all the individual segments in the level, with a percentage of how clean they are. This is useful when you’re making that push from 95% to 100% completion, though it could do with more clarity when it comes to naming each segment. When you’re cleaning a big van, something like “Truck Bed Side” isn’t helpful when there are four or five different segments named that in the level.
Still, as a “chore simulator” game, it scratches that itch of keeping my brain occupied and focused while I listen to something in the background, though I do think it lacks a little something compared to the other games I mentioned earlier. House Flipper has that creative spark of interior design, and Euro Truck Simulator has the challenge of not taking an off-ramp too fast and ending up on your side, but PWS2 lacks that extra something to make it more compelling – what you see is what you get.
Of course, for many, that’s all they need, and as I’ve said, I will definitely find myself pulled into it when the game comes out. It strikes that balance perfectly of a task that requires a base level of focus, while allowing you to just sit there and gently zone out to whatever other material you’ve got on in the background. Or you can jump on with three friends and giggle childishly at the various drawings of genitalia you spray onto the side of a van. Both playstyles are equally valid, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
PowerWash Simulator 2 will release later this year on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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