Spray Paint Simulator Review (PS5) – Spray And Play

The simulator genre has really exploded in the last few years. Whilst we’ve seen various copycats of the almighty PowerWash Simulator come and go, it’s been interesting to see variations on the theme, and how utterly unique certain simulator games can go to recreating the authentic feel of doing something in real life you may perhaps never do otherwise (I’m looking at you, Wild West General Store Simulator). Still, the enormous success of PowerWash almost guaranteed we’d see similar titles of that ilk make their way to our systems and lo and behold, we’ve got a bit of a banger right here with Spray Paint Simulator. 

You’re going to head into Spray Paint Simulator with a familiar feeling. You’re new on the job, people are hiring you, you need to buy your paint gun, paint, tape and paper and nozzles in order to successfully finish up a job and you’ll earn money you can spend on better items once complete. So far, so very PowerWash, it doesn’t shy away from this fact and leans into the facets of that game which made it an enormous success. There’s no getting around it, this is a very similar experience, make no mistake. 

Once you’re gun in hand, paint full to the brim ready to go though, you’ll notice the fundamental differences. Firstly, well, everything is squeaky clean. You’re not washing anything here, you’re merely painting and making everything look as brand new as possible. The biggest difference is the aforementioned paper and tape, which are essential items for each job, ensuring you’re covering up what you don’t need to paint over and focusing purely on what you do.

The planning and execution of that plan is paramount, and you’ll be buying the paint colours your client has asked for, so you can’t just go off and turn their treasured car/kitchen/school bus into multicoloured rainbow masterpieces, but instead you’ve to stick to the brief and get the job done as efficiently as possible. You can’t really go wrong, it just takes a little while to prep. 

And the spray painting feels incredibly intuitive and natural. You have a multitude of nozzle options if you want to spray larger or smaller areas, and focusing primarily on certain sections allows you to go over the lines a tad (be thankful you’ve taped that paper down over the areas that aren’t required). I never really settled on a preferred nozzle option purely because they’re all necessary to get the job done. As with PowerWash, it’ll be the little crevices and the odd blotch here and there that you’ve missed right at the end as you sit on 98% complete and you have no idea what you’ve missed.

Thankfully the game is helpful at pushing you in a direction as where to find a tiny corner that isn’t quite complete, so a simple small nozzle spray will do the trick. Yeah. Like PowerWash (sorry, but the Spray Paint Simulator owes so much to that game it’s hard to not mention it as an obvious comparison point). 

Fundamentally though, what the two have in common more than anything else is just how satisfying it is to play. Spray Paint Simulator is one of those games that feels really nice to jump into after a long day, and you don’t want to tax your brain too much. The only thing you need to think about is really ensuring you’re using the correct colour and that your paint gun battery is full (you can buy more in the store should you need to). That kind of experience is perfect for me and I’ve had a very peaceful time playing this one on my sofa. It feels just as rewarding as PowerWash and allows you to feel somewhat proud of the final product. 

And as the jobs expand you’ll find yourself working on cherry pickers, scaffolding and using more complex tools to get your job done. When multiple colours are added to the mix, you’ll be taking paper and tape off one area then adding it to another, spray painting the new area and then taking tape and paper and adding it to your previous work so you’re now able to spray paint what was covered before.

It’s never hugely complex but it can get time consuming as you’re refilling paint back and forth, swapping out batteries and changing colours. If you have the patience for those later levels though, you’re going to fall deeper in love with Spray Paint’s mechanics and feel terribly proud when you’ve changed the external look of an entire robot. That was a whole lot of fun, that one.

If you simply just want to spray paint until you create your masterpiece then the Free Play mode has you covered. Here you’ll have an open canvas and access to everything you’ll need to make some wonderful art in your own time. It’s a nice addition and I found myself spending a fair amount of time in this mode making stupid things and seeing how many different ways I could create the Finger Guns logo. There were several and no I’m not going to share them here.

So Spray Paint SImulator is a super fun evolution of the PowerWash blueprints, with a much needed dash of colour and vibrancy to the concept. If you couldn’t get your head around PowerWash you may just find yourself at home here, as there’s a more creative aspect to spray painting that you can really get stuck into, and the end products are always worth the effort.

Spray Paint Simulator is available on May 29th on PC, PS5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Game Pass, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch

Developer: North Star Video Games
Publishier: Whitehorn Games

Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.

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