PowerWash Simulator 2 Review

There’s something to be said of attempting to capture PowerWash Simulator‘s particular brand of bottled lightning twice – I wouldn’t go as far as suggesting singular novelty was demanding of a sequel – but those that crave more virtual pressure-washing catharsis are in for a treat with the improvements and embellishments on offer in PowerWash Simulator 2. Yes, once again it’s time to take on the most noble of trades and make a living out of killing dirt dead in first-person.

This sequel’s jobs aren’t too dissimilar from the original’s at first glance – tasking you with cleaning up plenty of buildings, vehicles, public grounds and eventually bigger and weirder stuff – but on deeper inspection there’s a lot improved here. The stuff you’re cleaning tends to be more varied overall with more interesting shapes, surfaces and embellishments, but there seems to have been a considered effort made to avoid the annoying, finicky stuff that came with some of PowerWash Sim’s more intricate subjects. There’s still dirt to be found in challenging nooks and crannies, but as a general rule there’s far less of it hidden in spots that are unreasonably out of sight or reach.

Jobs can also include evolving environments and interactive elements now, making for some fun surprises and twists to keep things interesting. And there’s a nice cadence of smaller, more approachable call-outs that pop up as you progress those bigger jobs best tackled over consecutive sessions. Your clients now span an entire county as well, including a diverse swathe of burgs outside of the original Muckingham (with equally punny names), and there’s much more context to pick up on in both the immediate and surrounding environments. If the first game is any indication, there’ll no doubt be even more on the way, but the base campaign and stages on offer are very strong.

There are some neat new tools on hand for these more ambitious jobs, too. The Surface Cleaner is a big one – a polearm scrubbing tool with a big, round head that makes doing massive floors or walls infinitely less tedious. It can be a bit unwieldy, but once you get a handle on it there’s no going back to the RSI-inducing ways of before.

Gaining height has similarly become a breeze in this sequel. The multi-tiered scaffold now includes a ladder on either side, making it a lot more compelling to use, but the new powered scissor lift just about makes all of the ladders and platforms redundant. And you’ll occasionally be treated to use of a rope and harness system, for especially high-rise jobs, that’s as fun as it is functional. I can’t say I’ve ever been jealous of the folks whose job it is to abseil around stupidly tall structures with a squeegee in real life, but I almost get the appeal now.

All of this adds up to make the act of unleashing gallons of liquid on a concerningly-grubby community feel more creative and expressive than before, while retaining the therapeutic payoff that made the previous PowerWash so appealing. You can totally still set up with your favourite powerwasher and nozzle combo and mindlessly sweep over bricks and fences for hours if you’re looking to switch all the way off, but there’s a bit more video game in it now for those of us compelled to get serious about virtual blue collar life.

But where the thrill of the job is greater than ever in this sequel effort, I’m not quite as sold on the bits around it. PowerWash Sim 2 now features a customisable home base that acts as an office and powerwashing showroom of sorts. It’s an effective way to ground the whole experience and drive the idea that you’ve become something of a household name in the world of professional cleaning, but it doesn’t feel fully developed. I never felt compelled to spend time buying and placing furniture and decor, although the fact that the things you buy arrive horribly filthy and need hosing down before you can place them is incredibly funny.

Where the original PowerWash wore a well-meaning but borderline generic visual identity that riffed on a glut of simulator-type games made from ubiquitous stock assets, the sequel manages to bring a bit of cohesion and polish to its aesthetic that makes it feel much more bespoke and recognisable.

The technical upgrade is especially effective, with more attention paid to giving players a variety of unique surfaces and materials that all look and feel different under the hose. It’s real lizard-brain stuff, fawning over the different sensations of washing wooden slats versus rendered cement, steel or glass, but it’s wonderful. It feels silly to say, but the water has also been given a facelift in this game about spraying shit with water. There’s so much convincing variation in how your high-pressure H20 visually and audibly reacts with different objects and surfaces that perfectly delivers the fantasy this game is selling.

Unfortunately we didn’t get access to console code that would’ve made it simple for me to test out the split-screen cooperative experience new to the sequel, but it’s something I was able to briefly try at Tokyo Game Show – and there it worked great. The addition of persistent progression through co-op play should be a massive boon this time around, as well.

Final Thoughts

The original PowerWash Simulator was my go-to chill out game for the longest time, and I’ve no doubt PowerWash Simulator 2 will fill that some role for quite a while. But this go around I’m also much more drawn to playing it like, well, a video game. There’s just enough new depth here to tease out a bit of strategy and self-imposed challenge, and I’ve enjoyed rising to it – especially when there’s a scissor lift handy.

Reviewed on PC // Review code supplied by publisher

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