If you were to look at only the controller while someone is playing PowerWash Simulator, you might assume that you were watching them operate a more traditional first-person shooter. You might be surprised to learn that for a game in which you “just wash things,” every single button on the Xbox controller is utilized, including different functions mapped to all four directions of the D-pad. You can choose from multiple power washers, which come with a handful of nozzles and distance extenders and a bevy of soaps suited for various surface types.

In execution, though, it’s a bit more complicated than that. There’s no health bar, there’s no time limit, and you have unlimited water. Then one of them asked, “What do you do in that game? You just … wash things?” None of them, however, has come close to generating the tremendous buzz that PowerWash Simulator has spurred within the gaming community.Įarlier this week, when I told a few Call of Duty: Warzone stans that my favorite first-person shooter of the year is PowerWash Simulator, they laughed heartily. There’s no single developer or publisher pumping out these “simulators,” so the quality and feel of the games vary.

Road Maintenance Simulator, Bus Simulator, Lawn Mowing Simulator, Farming Simulator, and many more have been released in the past few years. Released in mid-July on Xbox platforms (Xbox One, Series S/X, and Game Pass) after more than a year in early access on Steam, PowerWash Simulator is the latest entry in the burgeoning genre of “simulator” games that allow players to take part in a virtual recreation of some seemingly mundane activity. I cleaned this Ferris wheel in PowerWash Simulator, a video game by British developer FuturLab. Of course, I didn’t actually clean anything in real life.

I cleaned all of these individual elements and many more, my ears blanketed by the soothing white noise of gallons upon gallons of water pinging off various surfaces at high speeds. The newly immaculate carnival ride is now absolutely sparkling in the sun: All 32 massive support beams are glistening and spotless, as are all 180 lightbulbs, as well as the 119 vertical slats of the fence surrounding the structure. I’ve just spent more than two hours cleaning every nook and cranny of a filthy, rusted Ferris wheel, and I feel incredible.

Pressure cleaner simulator