PowerWash Simulator: PS5 Review

Developed by Futurlab
Published by Square Enix
Platform: PS5

It's hard to explain exactly why PowerWash Simulator can prove to be such a relaxing tonic.

At its core, all it really is is a simple game that you can do in real life - pick up a water blaster and hose things down with precision, clearing the grime and cleaning the scene. It would be trite to say it's a game that relies on difficulty and one which builds to a crescendo on each level, because at the end of the day, all you're doing is simply washing down various items.

Starting off with a van and a pressure gun, you get to build your business up after taking on varying degrees of requests and carrying out successful washes. Each wash sees you contacted by further would-be customers who've heard of your reputation and are keen to ensure your keep it clean mantra can extend to them.

In truth, some of this game is about endurance and patience - there's a degree of monotony that creeps in every time even though you can reinvest your earnings in newer and fancier equipment before repeating the same methodology.

Extended nozzles, cleaning solutions, different guns - there's enough to play around with to achieve the perfect loadout, but you'll quickly settle on what works for you and leave it. The console launch edition comes with the Tomb Raider castle to clean up and there are plenty of levels to go through.

From time to time there's an issue getting 100% of an area clean, and occasionally a few areas of levels said they're clean even though they were blatantly dirty, but the niggles with this game are few and far in between.

PowerWash Simulator is good clean fun, but probably best done when you're in a relaxed state of mind rather than in need of a desperate gaming fix.