There’s something therapeutic about cleaning. The action of literally wiping and scrubbing away some dust or dirt and seeing the clean, pristine results of your hard, elbow-greasing endeavours. But what about blasting away grime, soaping up the dirt and spraying filth into a pristine shine? After the massive success of its predecessor, the PowerWash Simulator series returns with PowerWash Simulator 2, packed with all the belts, whistles, and cleaning gear you know and love.

Thankfully, the sequel doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, but lives truly on the mantra of ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, keeping what made the original fun and building on it. Think of it like trading in an old cleaning appliance for a new one: Same concept, better pressure, sleeker design, and a few new tricks under the nozzle.

So strap on your cleaning suits, grab your cleaning supplies, and get ready to battle the grime one more time!

As stated in the intro, the core gameplay remains iconically the same as its predecessor, loading into an object or building that needs a desperate wash. You’re armed with your latest cleaning equipment to handle the invasions of the mucky and grim, but the overall approach to the game is still blissfully simple: Aim your cleaning nozzle, click to spray, and watch dirt-be-gone! The big difference between the two games is that this sequel has a better sense of structure.

The game now has a story mode. Gone are the days of loading random maps for no reason, or cleaning different items and buildings from other franchises (the first game DLC had Final Fantasy, Shrek, Tomb Raider, Back to the Future, and even Warhammer). You’ve been given a home base of operations, allowing you to customise its appearance via unlockable items (such as lamps, carpets, couches, bookshelves), pet your 3 cats, and check out the next location that needs a wash via a huge map. Co-op is also featured, allowing you and your cleanest friends to take the dirty work ahead.

New tools have been added to the in-game store, costing in-game attainable currency (not real-life currency). The circular surface cleaner, aka Swirlforce, tears through wide areas with satisfying efficiency, like a floor cleaner/waxer on steroids. Abseiling gear helps clean up massive structures such as billboards, whilst cherry pickers let you reach towering structures with supreme height accuracy and without the awkward ladder shuffle from the first game.

Map cleaning percentage still maxes out at 100%, with the remaining dirt being able to be found for a quick tap of the highlight dirt button, which is perfect for chasing that last annoying 0.1% remaining. A very distracting feature that’s new in the game is that, as you’re going about your cleaning, you’ll receive random in-game text messages from random characters. It’s unknown as of this writing if they are meant to add anything to the storyline or some background on the map. They were mostly ignored, and it doesn’t appear to be any log or way of going back through reading them. A somewhat unnecessary feature as of this writing, but perhaps it may be upgraded or given greater importance in the future.

Handling a power washer shouldn’t feel complicated, and developers and publishers FuturLab keep it tight. Keyboard and mouse still offer the same pinpoint precision as the first game, but PowerWash Simulator 2 clearly favours a controller this time around. The triggers give satisfying pressure control, and movement between nozzles and tools feels faster and more intuitive. Though if you prefer to clean with the keyboard and mouse, the game has implemented an auto-blast button, Right Click, which will put some ease on the pressure of holding down the left click for long minutes at a time.

A few new interface touches, mimicking that of a tablet/iPad, are new. It lists new items like job lists, progress percentages, and a cleaner (pun intended) HUD, making tracking your work easier. The only gripe? The cherry picker and scaffolding mechanics can occasionally feel clunky, especially in tight corners, though it’s a minor frustration in an otherwise fluid setup.

PowerWash Simulator 2 doesn’t aim for realism. It keeps its fun, quirky art style as the original, which helps the game’s overall serenity. The world pops with soft colours, sharp reflections, and improved natural lighting. Surfaces glisten as you clean them, and water behaves more dynamically, beading, pooling, and reacting to different materials. From soap suds to water powerblasting off various objects, water reacts to the point of pressure-mist, which is a fantastic addition to the cleaning protocol.

There’s also a welcome sense of atmosphere. Each location feels alive with small environmental details: Roaming background car traffic, flickering lights, rusted bolts, and reflections that shift, react, and move as you spray. It’s subtle, but it adds a sense of place that was missing before. Slight spoiler: There is a carnival/arcade level that, upon cleaning a shooting range game, the targets react to getting blasted with high-pressure water. A fun, little addition that really makes the game feel alive.

Audio remains the secret weapon of this series. The hiss of water against metal, the soft thud of grime giving way, the soap suds lapping up over one another, it’s all ASMR-level quality. It’s engaging, it’s not over the top, it’s somewhat strangely hypnotic. There doesn’t appear to be a heavy in-game soundtrack presence, which is great as it keeps the focus on the cleaning SFX.

Birds chirping in the distance, workers and construction noises take place faintly nearby, and even footstep echoes have been newly instated in this sequel, adding a further level of atmosphere and life into the game.

PowerWash Simulator 2 takes the foundation that made the first game a cult hit and layers on smart quality-of-life improvements, better visuals, and genuine multiplayer fun.

If you found the first game relaxing, this one feels like a spa retreat day. However, if you didn’t get the appeal before, this probably won’t convert you. But for those who love the rhythm of rinse and reward, this sequel delivers that same blissful satisfaction, only shinier.

Written by: James Fraser-Smith