From just two hours of playing PowerWash Simulator 2, I can confidently say that there are few things in life as satisfying. Plugging in a USB on your first try? A sublime feeling, but it doesn't quite compare to washing a thousand years of decadence from a roadside billboard, does it?
I've long admired PowerWash Simulator and its frankly ludicrous string of DLC, which range from SpongeBob SquarePants to Final Fantasy and Warhammer 40K. I've long admired the way it turns monuments of filth into grimy peelable scratchcards, but knowing how hard my lizard brain falls for simple and repetitive tasks, I watched friends stream their playthroughs instead of playing for myself – skirting the moreish black hole.
But PowerWash Simulator 2 confirms my fears were founded. By the time my hands-on came to an end, I was genuinely frustrated to be putting the sequel down with a billboard left un-polished. FuturLab… Do you have any more of this?
It pays to be clean
We've rounded up the best PC games for you to play while waiting to powerwash
Like in the first game, PowerWash Simulator 2's premise is sending you to powerwash the dingiest spots on Earth. We're not talking mossy patios, to be clear: the thick gunk and gloop covering the surfaces of this universe looks primordial, which makes scraping it away with your power washer – revealing the shiny, often colorful veneers beneath – all the more satisfying.
For my first job, I tackle one of PowerWash Simulator 2's new multi-stage jobs. It's a "public facility" – the name feels very generous, given the filthy toilet kiosk wouldn't look out of place in Gomorrah – and requires thoroughly cleaning the roof before the rest of the kiosk rises out of the ground. Likewise, the exterior needs to be spotless before the interior unlocks. The process is pretty simple as far as having multiple stages goes, but given the game's other multi-stage work will involve "vehicle interiors to entirely different rooms", this one feels like a straightforward introduction.
Still, having the public facility broken into three sections gives it a chunky checklist-y feel – think a really methodical deep-clean – and I dig not having the whole thing immediately thrown at me. Because the level's surfaces vary from wide walls to tiny sink faucets, it's a nice opportunity to mess with the sequel's new tools. The surface cleaner is a little awkward to use for any small-to-medium surfaces, and it's not quite as thorough as the smaller power washers, but helps massively with de-griming things like walls and ceilings.
"It offers more of everything with a little more polish"
Over the course of my hands-on I fall into the routine of using the surface cleaner to cover the broad strokes before getting stuck in with a more accurate washer; which has been made significantly easier with the addition of enhanced dirt highlighting. Think Marie Kondo's Witcher Senses – hold down a button and any remaining mess will helpfully glimmer. The usefulness of this cannot be overstated, particularly during the wrap-up stages of a job where you're being held hostage by specks of grime hiding beneath a toilet seat.
Some of the sequel's new features are flashier. While cleaning a billboard in a later level, I was able to use an abseiling swing to tackle its grimier heights. Besides getting to clean from a swing, this also means that you can get up close to higher-up filth – so you don't have to lose pressure from spraying at a distance. Similarly, I found the billboard was the best area to use PowerWash Simulator 2's vastly-improved soap, which – at risk of explaining to you how soap works – makes even the most stubborn dirt peel away with ease, if you make the effort to suds it up first. More experienced players may find it an unnecessary extra step, but for the sake of making everything easy-to-clean without having to mess around with nozzles and pressure, I dug it.
The laddered scaffolding, which helped reach the hard-to-clean underside of the billboard, was equally helpful – if a little awkward to move, as it had some trouble with clipping against the rest of the map. While I didn't have enough time to clean beyond the billboard and public facility, PowerWash Simulator 2 has more new features spread across other maps. I fully intended to check out the newly-added scissor lift – which offers more nuanced control for vertical cleaning over scaffolding – but in all honesty, I became so obsessed with scouring the billboard that I ran out of time before taking a third job. Neither did I check out much of the headquarters that players will be based out of, though its empty halls and large rooms suggest there will be plenty for customization sickos to relish.
Even within those two new jobs, PowerWash Simulator 2 thoroughly hooked me. I'm already planning to jump into the first game ahead of the sequel's launch, though some improvements, particularly the dirt highlighter, already seem like they'll be hard to live without. That speaks more broadly to PowerWash Simulator 2's ethos, which feels like it offers more of everything with a little more polish. Given I've just spent two blissful hours doing nothing but polishing, it's hard to fault that strategy.
Besides PowerWash Simulator 2, here are the rest of the new games set to launch in 2025 and beyond
