PowerWash Simulator 2 is just as a satisfying as the first, but doesn’t really push the formula in a way that warrants the title of a full blown sequel.

The graphical leap between games is definitely the number one reason to upgrade to the sequel. Textures look amazing and the water effects are really nice.

I really thought they could have pushed the envelope a bit more with the interactive and evolving levels. There were a handful here that were cool to see, but nothing particularly memorable or surprising.

The story here wasn’t anything special. I only really tried to stay on top of the text messages you receive during jobs when they revolved around the ancient civilization tech, which was the main through line. Near the end, there were a ton of names popping up, but I really didn’t know who they were or what they wanted. It definitely didn’t help that there were no pictures to put to the names.

The new tools were pretty useful and added some nice variety to gameplay. I really liked the surface cleaner, but it didn’t really feel as good to use as I was expecting. It always seemed to freak out if the surface was just a little uneven. The new traversal tools (scissor lift, step ladders, and pulley system) were all useful in their own right and made getting around more fun.

Really loved the changes that they made to the soap system. Instead of having to constantly resupply your limited set of 8 different surface cleaners, you just have the one soap option that goes on a short cooldown if you end up using all of it in one spray. This was super helpful for breaking down tough stains in the early game, but once I unlocked the most powerful washer (which didn’t take a whole lot of time because you you can just resell your equipment on the fly).

Initially I really liked the new highlight system they introduced to show which items still needed to be cleaned, but it just really didn’t work properly. Every time you would look at the thing they were telling you to look at, the icon would dart away to another location. Definitely better than having to go into the menu to highlight things like in the original, but still not as good as I think it should have been.

I was really expecting to get more into the furniture collecting and base building, but I really wasn’t loving a lot of the items I was unlocking and the space you have is so limited that I just stopped putting stuff down after the first 3 or 4 items. Also, I really didn’t get why there was a point cap on how many power washing points you could save up. You needed to constantly buy every item available at the store just to make sure you weren’t stuck with the maximum amount you could hold. Just didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.

The last level was pretty disappointing. The crystal caverns were cool, but really didn’t take me much time to clean. Compare that to the giant pyramids you were cleaning at the very end of the first game, it really doesn’t stack up. That area was definitely the biggest in the game and it felt like a fitting accomplishment when you were able to clean it to 100%. It really seemed like we were going to be able to finish things up on the moon and maybe have to clean an enormous lunar colony, but that wasn’t the case at all.

Small nitpick, but I really would have loved to see a more robust soundtrack here. The quiet is nice, but I really wish there was a built in way to have some low fi beats or something to work along with.

Overall, the super satisfying gameplay loop is still here which is great to pop in, put on a podcast, and get to blasting. There are several improvements here that elevate the game, but I feel like its still lacking in a few ways that I think a more worthy sequel would have been able to improve in a more meaningful way.

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