Out of all the most pointless and annoyingly conflicting games, PowerWash Simulator may be the one that will get you addicted. Turning a real-life chore into a proper game, this is a nightmare come to life for anyone suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder, and potentially a way to trigger your inner cleanliness fixation as well. Without going any deeper into controversial areas, the wish to restore the overly disgusting locations in this game to their former glory is something that may mess with the psyche in ways that some players may not be expecting.

So Satisfactory

Possibly designed with the satisfactory and the ASMR generation in mind, PowerWash Simulator is a game that will play with your instincts, with your will to achieve the coveted 100% even if it takes hours to get there. The core mechanics couldn’t be any simpler – use your power washer with a few extensions and nozzles to remove the dirt from all the surfaces in a given environment or vehicle, and then you’re off to the next level.

Easy? Not quite, because some of the specks of dirt are hard to spot or to reach, even when highlighting them. When you’re nearly done and can’t find that little bit of dirt that you’re missing, luckily you can bring up a list of part names and highlight the one that isn’t entirely clean.

Addictive? Contrary to what a gamer might expect, the feeling of removing the dirt and restoring the shine and color to a dirt bike, a playground, a haunted house, or even Lara Croft’s manor is remarkably infectious and satisfactory. You will see time fly as you wash surface after surface, move around spraying water on the floor like a silly busy bee, and finally notice that you’re only halfway through the level and have trouble leaving the game for the day.

Relaxing? Oddly enough, it is. It’s almost compulsively relaxing and just as challenging as you want it to be. Take your time to do it in a leisurely way and you may forget some of your day’s worries. The “ding” sound that plays when you clean an item or section is music to your years, a weirdly rewarding sense of accomplishment filling you inside.

There are some twists to the gameplay, such as rotating the nozzle for better effect on specific areas and corners, and purchasing cleaning liquid that speeds up the dirt removal according to the surface, including wood, glass, plastic, stone, among others. One of your main goals will be to spend the hard-earned cash on a new Power Washer – think of these as new guns, with different statistics covering dirt removal, from surface to encrusted, embedded, ingrained, oily, and a few more. It’s not quite Call of Duty, but there will be a lot of trigger-pulling for sure.

Entering aim mode to freely move the washer in a single screen is a resource that you may neglect at first, but for a thorough cleaning of a confined zone, this is the best way in terms of effectiveness and comfort.

Speaking of that, thankfully there’s a washer toggle to save you from holding down the trigger  button for hours on end. While this makes a massive difference between staying healthy and welcoming carpal tunnel syndrome into your life, PowerWash Simulator remains a game that may give you some arm and wrist discomfort if you don’t know when to take a break or two.

Missed a Spot

As addictive and well-oiled as it may be, PowerWash Simulator isn’t a perfect game. The physics are a bit on the loose side, as your character jumps around garden sheds and occasionally floats in the air until you stop pressing the movement key. Using the ladder is a restricted affair, with predefined spots to place it, so don’t expect any freedom to deploy it all over the place.

Something else that bothers me is the absence of water streams in the game. With an almost infinite supply of water coming from your washer, it would be normal to see some of it flowing to the nearest drain, especially while doing indoor cleaning with dirt bikes or golf carts. However, the floor remains as dry as a straw pile on a scorching sunny day in the desert, something that is oddly distressing when you finally realize it. Apart from a few dirt footprints, everything is disappointingly dry.

What sounded more like a joke at first turns out to be a cathartic experience for those who decide to grab that washer for a single short round. Minutes turn into hours, dirty locations turn into pristine places, and you realize that this silly and (not so) small game has become your newest obsession. As conflicting as it sounds, PowerWash Simulator is the best game that you can get if you want to lose yourself into the most futile and addictive of all recent videogame experiences.

Pros

• Incredibly satisfying and cathartic
• The jet stream and “ding” sounds are music to any ears
• Varied and interesting locations
• A longevity for the books

Cons

• Extremely easy to become addicted to it
• Could cause some wrist and arm discomfort

Rating: 9/10