PowerWash Simulator Is Podcast Game Perfection

thegamer.com:

It's difficult to imagine a more perfect podcast game than PowerWash Simulator. After leaving early access last week, FuturLab's new recreational recreation of a mundane activity does exactly what it says on the tin, and with remarkable fidelity. It's so faithful, in fact, that playing it for long almost feels like taking on a part time job. That’s kind of what I like about it.

This sudsy sim offers players a range of nozzles and soap with which to spray the grime off a variety of surfaces. There are also standing, crouching, and prone stances, bringing sniper-like seriousness to the process of negotiating the complex objects you may be required to clean. The first level has you spraying down your work van, as an in-game checklist alerts you when you've completed cleaning each area, along with a dollar amount for how much, say, a shiny hubcap is worth. While you can speedily make it through this kind of vehicle-cleaning gig, you quickly unlock new jobs that take significantly longer to complete.

RELATED: Things We Wish We Knew Before Playing PowerWash Simulator

As it stands, I've only completed two of these gigs, despite putting in about six hours with the game. That's because each gig feels like a pretty close approximation of its real-world alternative. In the first two major levels, you clean a suburban backyard — complete with a table, umbrella, grill, and dried-up artificial pond — and a playground, stocked with monkey bars, a slide, a merry-go-round, and a sprawling rubber mat. All of these objects are compartmentalized and listed in a checklist in the menu, along with the percentage of gunk you’ve successfully hosed off. Cleaning something as small as a jungle gym's climbing pole can take surprisingly long — you