If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. PowerWash Simulator is one of my favourite games ever, and now PowerWash Simulator 2 also joins those ranks of ‘Best Games…Ever’. Using that saying as our base point, FuturLab is still using the perfect formula for cleaning scum, but now has lots and lots of extras.
Ok, perhaps some of these extras existed in previous iterations, or one of the very many DLCs that accompany the base game. I don’t have any of these, and totally in my element with repeat plays of the original title. Now we have a wider range of tools, and customisation has stepped up quite a bit. I’ll touch on these now as I won’t be revisiting them.
In addition to making your avatar look quite funky, along with some decals for your blaster, PowerWash Simulator 2 introduces customisations for your base. Again, I can’t verify if this was in the DLC for the last game, so if you’re like me and unititated, now you can earn points to invest in cosmetics for your office.
I’m undoubtedly a slave to customisations in a game and will spend ludicrous hours tinkering, but not here. Unable to play a co-op game with my kids for some reason or another, I exclusively play solo, and aside from that same video of progression showing some dirty bit of kit being hosed down, I have no interest in making myself beautiful. I do, however, want to clean up and make Muckingham a beautiful place.
Indeed, PowerWash Simulator 2 maintains its location in the dirtiest place on the internet that doesn’t require a VPN. Familiar locations appear, and some of you may have flashbacks to the helter skelter when hosing down a funky little shooting range, or an advanced public toilet that has a recess underground, rising in various tiers for you to make all sparkly.
Cash is earned through cleaning and clearing all objectives, and that money can be invested in better products. In the career mode, various pieces of equipment are immediately available, such as stepladders and scaffolding, as well as rigging that makes you look like the SAS with a pressure washer – all at no cost. Unlike the rather decent Spray Paint Simulator, you needn’t focus so much on consumables. Better, more powerful gear requires a lot of time, however.
I found myself having one of those ‘quick gos’ and ended up doing 7 hours in one day. There are undoubtedly strategies for conserving water and being more efficient, but I find PowerWash Simulator 2 so incredibly therapeutic, hypnotic, and somewhat hedonistic. ASMR is one of the most ridiculous things people are into, but I just love the sound of the water and hum of the equipment without any interruptions from cheesy music. Sure, there are text pop-ups that I never read, but wholeheartedly, this is such an enjoyable experience.
Now, you can complete the career mode and focus on challenges, or play with others, but considering I’ve been playing PowerWash Simulator on rotation since its release – the base game, no DLC – there’s plenty of replayability, and you know what, it’s much more constructive playing like this with the mouse than creating extra work for myself in Photoshop simply so I can play around with the eraser tool manually. That’s what this game is if we strip it down, and for me, it’s one of my favourite things, though I could do without the RSI of no-break playthroughs.
