Powerwash Simulator was a game I sank well over 100 hours into, and considering I don’t even have all the DLC for it, I think that’s a testament to how enjoyable I found it. Powerwash Simulator 2, naturally, was a must-buy!
Did it hold up in comparison? Let’s take a look.
Powerwash Simulator
Genre(s) – casual, simulator
Original release date – October 23, 2025
Available on – PC, PS5, Switch 2, XBox Series X/S
Played on – PS5
Once again developed by FuturLab, I have to say the mechanics of Powerwash Simulator 2 are like a dream. It might have been my imagination, but as good as the controls felt before, here they felt even smoother, which was wonderful given that the game can stretch for dozens of hours before you even hit any potential DLC. The game is a direct continuation of the previous, where you play as the same character after all the mess went down with the mayor’s drilling operation and the Pacifists and the time-traveling UFO.
(Look, the first game has a brilliantly messed-up story. If you haven’t yet played it, you’re seriously missing out!)
Thus, it made perfect sense that you’d start with better equipment here. After all, you bought a lot of it during your previous adventures, so it would make no sense to set the player back to square one when it came to equipment. I really liked that touch, as it gave the game a sense of place along the timeline, but also allowed for more equipment upgrades along the way anyway. You have access to new and more powerful washers to buy as your new adventures progress, as well as new cosmetics, which are always fun.
And an office to decorate, with purchasable furniture!
MORE THAN MUCKINGHAM
Compared to the first game, Powerwash Simulator 2 features a lot of quality of life upgrades. Smoother controls, absolutely, as well as things like the ability to climb scaffolding with an outside ladder instead of using the stairs, an icon to lead you to the last few unclean spots you may have missed along the way instead of relying solely on a list and the desperate hope you’ll be able to find the missing pieces. The ability to have uncleaned areas glow makes a return here, though it’s less useful with that “quest marker” icon to guide you.
I prefer this setup, honestly, since playing the original Powerwash Simulator occasionally left me with dirty sections so tiny I couldn’t even detect a glow, and I just had to use the “spray-and-pray” method (yes, I said what I said).
Also, more opportunities for player-beloved parkour. Can’t forget about that! The developers knew damn well we were going to try making our way to the top of buildings without ladders or scaffolding, and more often than not, they allowed for ways to accomplish this. They know exactly who their audience is!
I have absolutely no complaints at all about the mechanics, the level design, any of that. It’s as perfect as I can imagine it getting, with plenty of variety in location design and fun ways to complete each level, cats and garden gnomes to hunt for, the pareidolic joy of accidentally carving a shape into the dirt that you’re wssssshing away.
I can’t be the only one who does that, right? Zone out for a while, then find that I’ve somehow accidentally created a unicorn head or a hat or Texas or some other random shape as I was cleaning? I don’t do it deliberately, but, well, I’m the sort of person who sees thousands of shapes in clouds, or in the abstract patterns or marble tiles, so I guess it’s not too big a surprise that it happens with un-powerwashed dirt. Still. I can’t be the only one, right?
Anyway, back on topic, where the game unfortunately fell apart for me was the story.
A NARRATIVE LET-DOWN
I want to state that the story of Powerwash Simulator 2 wasn’t bad, per se, and I can’t imagine many people play this for the story, but compared to the off-the-wall plot of the first game, it felt unfortunately shallow. Spoilers for the story of both Powerwash Simulator and Powerwash Simulator 2:
In Powerwash Simulator, the mayor’s money- and power-hungry plans cause him to destabilize a nearby super-volcano, which causes a cascade of things to follow, such as time-travelers from the future figuring out a way that you, our humble powerwashing hero, can fix it all. They go back in time and tell the ancient Pacifists (a Pacific ocean-equivalent of Atlanteans) to build certain structures and tell legends of your heroic deeds, which end up sort of guiding you on you mission to save the day. It’s absolutely wild and off-the-rails, and toward the end, every level seemed to one-up the previous, making me constantly question what kind of delightful insanity would be next. In the end, a set of powerful gems are activated to keep the volcano in check, to make sure there’s no super-volcanic eruption that could destroy the world.
In Powerwash Simulator 2, somebody steals those gems. The deposed mayor is trying to regain power, and it’s pretty obvious through the game that he stole the gems, though there’s no confirmation of that until the gems are finally found. The loss of the gems’ power puts the world at risk again, as they’re no longer keeping that volcano dormant.
Then comes the part where a weird new-age person tells you that the moon is spinning.
Don’t be silly, the moon isn’t spinning differently than normal, I think as I look up at the sky and see… Oh. The moon really is spinning, and fast! How long has it been doing that? Has it been doing it the whole time and I just didn’t notice?!
It’s okay, though, because we solve the problem by cleaning an ancient structure inside Mount Rushless. Boom. Done.
The problem with the story lies in the fact that there’s no sense of urgency or threat. Powerwash Simulator had that in spades, with you seeing the feline exodus from the area, with time-travelers showing up to guide you, with an entire ancient civilization telling legends about you. In Powerwash Simulator 2, there’s the “mystery” of who stole the gems, and the moon’s spin is connected to that theft, but it doesn’t seem to actually affect anything. Hell, I literally didn’t notice it until an NPC pointed it out! There was no subtlety that led me to discovering this on my own, no small environmental clues that something more than the gem theft might be happening, nothing. By the time I hit the game’s big reveals, I was left wondering not only if I’d missed something, but if this was really all there was.
A CLEAN SWEEP
In all fairness, however, topping the plot of the first game would be a monumental task, one which might prove too ridiculous to even devise. I’m not even sure what could have been done differently to add that sense of pressure and urgency, but I can definitely recognise its absence.
Though as I said, most people don’t play these games for the deep story. The story, in many ways, is a nice bonus to the dopamine hits of cleaning things and checking things off a list. And when I put it that way, the Powerwash Simulator games must sound dreadfully boring, but believe me, they’re anything but!
So in terms of story, I may have been disappointed, but my overall opinion of the game is that it’s top-notch, a wonderful game to play since I loved the first game so much. It gave me exactly what I needed: the satisfaction of cleaning things and seeing the art emerge from beneath the layers of dirt and grime without having to utterly exhaust myself and waste water in the process. It’s a deeply satisfying formula that the development team has absolutely mastered.
There’s already DLC, which I’ll likely eventually buy and play even if I’m not super into the partner franchise, because I need more satisfying powerwashing action. (Oh hell, their next DLC is a Star Wars-themed one? Sign me right the hell up!) I’ll also probably buy the remainder of the DLC I lack from the first game, too, and for the same reason! It’s a captivating gameplay loop the dev team has devised, and I’m absolutely here for it, every ding of the way.
Quadnines 
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