I don’t care what anyone says. PowerWash Simulator is the best game ever made and the second one is so satisfying. I was so in love with the first game that I bought every DLC. It was my ultimate relaxation game and when I finished everything, a piece of me died. That piece has been brought back to life with the even better PowerWash Simulator 2! New tools, new nozzles, and really cool levels. Let’s talk.

PowerWash Simulator 2 took a winning formula and made it smoother. The motion in the game is clean and fast. The tracking is better around this time too. Figuring out what items you’ve missed and need to clean is easier. The game uses markers to highlight missing pieces instead of just the glowing flicker of the previous version. You still might need to crawl around on the ground to find the speck of dirt, but at least you’re not having to stare and it wondering if that was the glowing piece you needed to clean.

As you might’ve noticed in that picture, there’s new tools to make cleaning even easier. Towering stairs, different height ladders, and a scissor lift are now available! Not to mention, you can use abseiling in some levels to clean really tall surfaces. While I would still stand on the ground with the longest extension and most powerful nozzle I had blasting into the sky, some levels were made so much easier once I realized the power of the tools I had. Abseiling was definitely a great addition. It was fast, easy to move around and made cleaning tall locations a breeze.

Something about watching how other people clean is maddening. I know I’m all over the place with no rhyme or reason. One feature they did improve on was the motion where you essentially lock your view in place and move the power washer without looking around. It is much better in this installment of the game, and while I did use it occasionally, I still found myself flailing around spraying haphazardly like I always do.

This game did a great job of peppering giant jobs with smaller ones in between to break up the workload. There were some large levels, but nothing felt as daunting as the giant pyramid structure in the first game. I definitely sunk some hours into a couple of the larger levels, but I felt like things were a lot more manageable this time around. There was only one level that was annoying, and that was because of a glitch with the scissor lift not being able to be moved. I had to spend some time trying to wiggle water around to get under it, but I eventually got the floor clean.

The locations were popping with color and had a lot of interactivity. I really liked seeing the vibrant colors come through as I cleaned my way through locations. Speaking of colors, there’s a lot more customization available in this game too. You can unlock new colors for your uniform and your van, and you can get furniture for your base (which has three cats in it that follow you to all of your jobs). These additions don’t do anything to enhance the game besides giving you something else to collect and customize. It’s not like you can see your outfit until the summary video plays, but it is still nice they added more features. I guess if you do multiplayer, you’d see other people’s outfits?

I think part of the reason levels didn’t feel so overwhelming is because many of them had phases that unlocked as you made progress. You’d think you’re finishing a level and suddenly a door unlocks or something rises out of the ground and you’ve got a brand new area to clean. It made the game feel more refined and polished.

If you play this game, the best recommendation I can make to you is to buy what you can afford in washing equipment early on, and once you have enough money, get a refund on those items and buy the second most expensive pressure washer as soon as you can. You will not have enough money to unlock all of the washers until you beat the campaign so it is best to get by with what you can until you can get a professional model. This will make those later levels a lot more manageable.

Lastly, the story isn’t over. There will be free and paid DLC coming in the new year and I can’t wait to see what the collaborations are. There were some big ones with Spongebob and Tomb Raider last time. What if I get to power wash Mt. Doom or Thanos’s gauntlet this time? A girl can dream.

Anyway, I love this game. I always recommend it and I am not being sarcastic. It is a great way to clear your mind, relax, and wash your worries away. The story is wacky, the levels are fun, and there’s a lot to discover. You should play this game.