I bloody love Futurlab. 

Whilst it’s been a minute since the utterly ingenious wonder of Velocity 2X, it’s been exciting to see the studio take some wild swings. From their VR miniracer Tiny Trax to a Peaky Blinders puzzle-adventure, they’ve moved in various directions before landing upon PowerWash Simulator, a game that took them stratospheric and cemented their place in the modern gaming zeitgeist. PowerWash Simulator took Twitch by storm, with once chill streams just chatting turning into chill streams where you power wash a playground and suddenly, everyone was talking about this little Futurlab game that could. It was great to see them finally break through into the mainstream populous with perhaps the most unlikely of video game subjects. 

And yet succeed they did, with 17 million players across all systems and a bunch of massive IP joining the fun to get their iconic things power washed – including Final Fantasy, Shrek, Back to The Future and frickin’ Spongebob, it seemed inevitable that a sequel wasn’t going to be too far behind.

And here it is. I’m left scratching my head about how it got its hooks in me the first time around. I’ll play any new game from Futurlab, for sure, but what is the appeal of this series? On paper, it shouldn’t have stopped me playing Battlefield 6 this week, and lo and behold I found myself more engaged in cleaning up a terribly filthy carnival game with water guns instead of actual ones.

The Zen State of Mind

The chill serenity of PowerWash Simulator remains in the sequel, which is a stone cold ‘the same but more of it’ type of sequel. It’s what you loved about the first game all wrapped up in a shinier bow. New locations, additional tools to help you get the job done and even a place to call home.

The first job back is a moving van and instantly puts you back into the world of PowerWash Simulator. If you’re curious about the ‘story’, which is thinner than the paint on the side of a dog-themed motor vehicle, you’re now a superstar in your town after the heroics of the first game, and you’re given a much broader canvas to share your talents.

Word has definitely spread of your immense cleaning ability and as such, you’re in demand. The tutorial level though reminds you of how pick-up-and-play the series is, and how it remains so throughout. I did find myself cleaning the interior and exterior of this van whilst listening to a Sonic chill playlist on Spotify, and a calm washed over me. The immense satisfaction of cleaning something with a power washer never really goes away, and with the addition of a new ‘soapier’ soap (which clings on to the dirt allowing you to clear it away far easier) only adds to that rewarding feeling.

The reason people love these games in the first place is that feeling you’re chasing. The feeling you clean your kitchen and see it sparkling back at you is what you’re aiming for with PowerWash Simulator, and when you see a moving van shine at you, there’s no feeling quite as satisfactory as that.

Of course, if you’ve played the original, that lasts up until the final five or so minutes when you’re left with nothing but the nooks and crannies you’ve missed along the way to quite literally mop up.

Nooks, Crannies and Everything in Between

Then the calm dissipates and you’re running around, relentlessly pressing the ‘reveal’ button like it’s Revelio in Hogwarts Legacy, painstakingly looking for what’s left to clean. The handy menu returns which shows you where and what it’s quite 100% yet, but there’s nothing quite as annoying as seeing the tiniest of specs way up above you and assuming you already had it. The cash register sound is most welcome and once you’ve finally completed a section, and once you’re down to your final few areas, sections will begin to pulse to ensure you’re not too lost in what you’re trying to complete. 

The new locations will put your patience to the test. Yes, for the majority of the level you’re happily power washing away until you get to a point where you’re either absolutely sure you’ve finished everything and there couldn’t possibly be a spot you’ve missed or what you need to get done is in a place that’s horrendously awkward and you’re wondering if you should just walk away because nobody will notice that section isn’t complete (note, this isn’t an option, you just bloody feel like it sometimes). 

A certain level has you cleaning a billboard. This one is fun for a number of reasons but also made me want to throw my controller at the screen, which was a new one for PowerWash Simulator. 

On each side of the billboard were flights of stairs, and this level introduced a seated mechanism which allowed you easily get to higher spots by pulling up on a rope and pulling you there and across and down. It’s super helpful. Still, this mechanism doesn’t go around, ergo the stairs became an utter nightmare to clean. If there was an easier way to do it, I couldn’t find it ninety odd minutes into this job. My eyes were tired and I was just about to save and give up on this one as the fun dissipated fairly rapidly as I couldn’t work out any other way around cleaning each individual step – on BOTH sides of the billboard, I must stress – without breaking the game in some way. 

Eventually, after many, many efforts of trial and error, I got these steps clean by standing on top of the billboard and working my way down some kind of invisible staircase which allowed me enough space to use my power washer on each step. I’m pretty sure I broke the game to complete this level but I’m not at all mad about it, once that level was done the relief was palpable. A harsh reminder that no matter how easy going PowerWash Simulator 2 is as an overall experience, there are moments that are inexplicably frustrating.

Sofa Suds

Still, one of the biggest additions to the sequel is local co-op, and this was a very welcome inclusion as it meant I could play the game with my fiancee and introduce her to the zen of power washing in video games. It was as simple to set up as her signing into her account on the PS5 and pressing the ‘start’ button. In no time at all we were a duo of badass power washers ready to take on whatever was next. 

Safe to say, she wasn’t a fan. It’s no fault of the game, I asked her to join me on the next job instead of showing her the ropes from back to the moving van like I probably should have. No, I decided to introduce her to the game on a two story art museum level, an absolutely massive job which on my own would have possibly taken me several hours to complete. At first it was all chill, I shared the controls with her and some little tricks (such as flipping the nozzle around and using the extenders and whatnot), but it didn’t last. By the end she didn’t even finish it with me and I ended up completing the level on my lonesome. 

Even more hilariously, the next job was a single car which, to be frank, is probably where I should have started her. She said it felt too much like work and well, if you’ve played PowerWash Simulator you can absolutely see where she’s coming from.

The Way of Water

The joy of playing the game is balanced out by this particular conundrum of how you personally experience it. After finishing a gruelling carnival level, which was fun to play in terms of revealing little hidden secrets and discovering what was under all the dirt, what followed – after a brief job cleaning up a street sweeper, which, upon first glance looks like it ran someone over and their guts were strewn all over the poor vehicle, only to discover it was just a massacre involving some berries – was a full on gas station. I took one look at it and had to step away. The sheer magnitude of the job before me – again, without a cohort because I accidentally made her dislike the experience overall – was too much to bear straight after a job that already took it out of me. 

I’ve gone back since and completed it – the whole game is done and dusted – but it does feel like a hell of a chore when you’ve already taken on some rather gargantuan tasks beforehand. Again, it’s dependent on what you get out of it, but one after the other in one sitting felt like a whole lot of time was being asked of me and I just couldn’t commit.

For me, PowerWash Simulator is a game to be experienced in chunks of time, rather than hours upon hours on end in one go. You could argue that not enough differentiates each level to keep your attention laser focused, or perhaps it’s been designed that way? Either way, it’s made to be played how you want to play it, and I’m very happy to take extended breaks between the big levels.

Don’t Forget The Corners

And you can go back and play any level back at your home base, which is a new addition to the game in PowerWash Simulator 2. Here you can also buy up furniture and items for your space which all need to be power washed before setting foot in your home and is a nice side gig amongst the paid work.

The money you earn can go on upgrades for your power washer, cosmetics for your character and your van, and whilst the options available aren’t vast it’s nice to be able to mix up the colours a bit, even if you can’t really see them when you’re playing due to the first person nature of it all. One of the benefits of co-op, if I ever get the chance to play it again. I’ll have to ask nicely. 

So PowerWash Simulator 2 is very much a ‘if it ain’t broke’ kind of sequel. There aren’t any massive changes in the gameplay loop, but there doesn’t really need to be. The first one was so uproariously successful it’s difficult to know what Futurlab could have added to improve on what they’ve already built. What they have included though only adds to the experience, and only increases the fun of it all. 

There’s no doubt in my mind PowerWash Simulator 2 will be just as successful as the first, if not more so. I’m very excited to see what gets added to the game in the coming months and what IP crossovers they have up their sleeves for this new iteration. 

Seemingly Futurlab have another megahit on their hands. And for £20 it’s very difficult to argue the sheer value for money. There’s a whole lot of game here, for better or worse, and there’s no argument that everything you’d want from a sequel to the original is right here.

How do these places get so damn dirty anyway?

PowerWash Simulator 2 is available October 23rd on PS5 (review platform), Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.

Developer: Futurlab
Publisher: Futurlab

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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