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As anyone who’s played PowerWash Simulator will tell you (your mileage may vary), it’s got some of the best lore since FromSoftware went all enigmatic about a king/dragon/wizard with a big hat on the back of a spell scroll. Amid all that squirting, it brought us mysteriously missing cats, dodgy politicians, golden age Hollywood heroes, enterprising toilet entrepreneurs, long lost Atlantean civilisations, and more. So it’s big hoorahs all round as developer FuturLab confirms there’ll be plenty more where that came from in its upcoming PowerWash Simulator 2.
FuturLab has been talking lore in the first of its PowerWash Simulator 2 developer blogs, confirming its sequel picks up several years after the events of the first game. In this brave new, post-volcano world, the Ancient Statue activated toward the end of the first game has continued to beam its enormous laser day and night, much to the annoyance of Caldera County’s local residents. They’re not especially happy it’s become a paranormal hotspot either.
Meanwhile, our beloved Powerwasher protagonist’s life goes on. “Obviously it was great to be involved in preventing an apocalyptic volcanic eruption by washing down the Sea Temple of an ancient civilisation, but saving the world doesn’t always pay the bills,” FuturLab writer Mark explains. “So they’ve continued to get their head down to save up for a swanky new Home Base, which they’ve just moved into as the new game commences.”
But new HQs don’t come cheap, and the Powerwasher will need to hit the road again and complete more hose-based jobs if he’s going to earn enough to re-purchase the equipment he had to sell. New jobs, of course, means new lore and players will find a Caldera County map and pinboard back at base – which serves as a hub in FuturLab’s sequel – that’ll slowly be adorned with newspaper snippets as Career mode continues. “This will fill in some [lore] gaps and help players stay invested in the story in a frictionless way,” Mark revealed.
“[In PowerWash Simulator 1, the lore’s] biggest weakness – that it wasn’t needed at all, made no requirements of the player and made no difference to the core gaming experience whatsoever – turned out to be its biggest strength. It meant that we could go a bit wild with it. By the end of the career mode there was a synergy between the two, with the narrative helping to inform the latter levels. It’s unlikely the game would’ve finished with the cleaning of a UFO and Atlantis without a story to justify it, although the latter was always the intended endpoint.”
“For PowerWash Simulator 2,” Mark continued, “we’ve taken the same approach. The primary consideration when choosing jobs is always game mechanics – would these be interesting and satisfying washing experiences? Then we got started with a story and let it leak in and inform some of the levels.” And if you want to know more about these levels, FuturLab says it’ll have more to say in its next developer blog – although previous showings have at least revealed players’ll be squirting the mucky bits off a parade float, tram, and teapot house in the sequel.
“It’s been a real joy and privilege to write for PowerWash Simulator 2,” Mark concluded in FuturLab’s post, “and we hope the lore hungry among you enjoy where we’ve gone with it.”
PowerWash Simulator 2 doesn’t have a release date yet, but it’s be coming to PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and possibly Switch 2 later this year. Those looking for something to hose in the meantime can always return to the first game, which recently added Muckingham’s Dessert Parlour as new stage to cleanse in a free update.
