Relax and Wash Your Worries Away in ‘PowerWash Simulator VR,’ Out Today on Meta Quest

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Nov 2, 2023

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Welcome to Muckingham, a quaint little town plagued by nearly endless layers of dirt and grime. That’s where you and your advanced arsenal of power washing tools come in: It’s your job to help the neighborhood by scrubbing all that filth away while also earning some pretty sweet money in the process. You can suit up today in PowerWash Simulator VR, available on Meta Quest 2, 3, and Pro for $24.99 USD.

PowerWash Simulator has been a huge hit on PC and consoles thanks to its surprisingly calm and meditative gameplay. This new version keeps everything that made the base game so successful—you’ll take on different jobs throughout Muckingham and strip the dirt away from objects like cars, playgrounds, and houses—while also adding new VR-only features that enhance the experience. The new toolbelt system lets you swap out nozzles and other accessories on the fly, and you can head to the back of your van to customize your cleaning uniforms with some fun new designs. You can also chill with friends in either the two-player campaign co-op or with up to four players in free play mode.

To celebrate the launch of the game, we caught up with FuturLab Marketing Manager Joshua Brown, Lead VR Programmer James Butlin, and Senior VR Programmer Krzysztof Plawski to talk about the wild success of PowerWash Simulator and how they adapted it to VR.

Tell us a bit about FuturLab.

Joshua Brown: FuturLab is an indie studio founded in 2003—yes, it’s our 20th birthday this year!—and we’re best known for the Velocity series, Peaky Blinders: Mastermind, and most recently the splash-hit PowerWash Simulator.

What was the original inspiration behind PowerWash Simulator? Were you surprised at all how popular it became?

Brown: We wanted to make an FPS-style game that could be made by our (then) small dev team. Our CEO, Kirsty Rigden, noticed that sim games had been consistently performing well on Steam. She’d also been obsessing over oddly satisfying pressure washing videos on the subreddit r/powerwashingporn. A light bulb moment happened when these two ideas came together, and the rest is history!

James Butlin: I was a little surprised! I knew PowerWash Simulator had a lot of potential and we’d seen it picking up traction, but I don’t think I was quite prepared for the response it got when it launched out of early access. We’re really excited to see people diving into PowerWash Simulator VR!

Krzysztof Plawski: Same here. I was a little surprised at first but then I remembered subreddits like r/powerwashingporn exist and everything started to make sense. This game tickles your brain in just the right way, and the experience is made even better in VR.

What was it like rebuilding the game for VR? Any fun or interesting anecdotes from development?

Butlin: Developing VR applications and games come with their own unique set of challenges—adapting an existing game to feel like a natural VR experience brings even more! There were laughs, there were tears, and there were some interesting design challenges to tackle. Okay, there weren’t really tears, but we’d be lying if we said it was easy!

Plawski: Hard. Very hard. Especially with the main version being expanded at the same time—converting old features and developing new ones at the same time is quite the juggling act. One wrong move and it all falls apart. Praised be version control.

Is there anything that’s new or different in the VR version?

Plawski: Yes, we realized early in development that most of the interactions present in the base version of the game did not translate well into the world of VR. We redesigned and rebuilt a lot of the core systems present in the game. From the HUD to the inventory and the toolbelt, there are a lot of new and exciting features in the VR version. Also, we added a gnome flip challenge!

Butlin: As Krzysztof mentioned, we had a lot of fun redesigning some of the existing systems to provide a more VR-centric experience. We tried to go the extra mile by making our washing equipment and inventory experience as diegetic as possible.

What’s your favorite part about the game and why?

Butlin: I might be a little biased because it was originally my brainchild, but I really enjoy equipping cosmetic items in the VR inventory! Our artists really brought both the PWS van and the new VR toolbelt to life.

Plawski: Power washer go brrrrr. Also, the soothing nature of the game may or may not have caused us to mindlessly wash things in multiplayer while discussing bugs and features on multiple occasions.

Do you plan on updating the game as well?

Brown: We’re planning on adding post-launch content updates, but we’ll share more on this in the future. Keep your eyes peeled.

Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

Brown: Just that we’re always humbled by players’ reaction to the game, and we can’t wait for a whole new audience to experience the game for the first time. Also, for any current PWS fans to get a completely new perspective on the town of Muckingham and to play the game in a much different way then they’re used to. Have an amazing time, everyone! 😊

Grab a few friends and have some squeaky clean fun together in PowerWash Simulator VR.