PowerWash Simulator goes surprisingly hard on the Warhammer 40K vibes

PowerWash Simulator is a chill-out game that captures the simple joy of scrubbing dirt and grime from the side of a house, statue, or playground. But what if you’re bored by the humble scene of a garage door or muddy truck? What if you yearn to gain the same satisfaction as a miniature painter gets from airbrushing an elaborate figurine? PowerWash Simulator occasionally does pop culture crossovers to introduce a little bit of variety — like SpongeBob SquarePants and Final Fantasy 7 Remake — but none of them are as grim and dark as the Warhammer 40,000 pack.

Warhammer 40K is a miniatures game, and factions like the Space Marines and Imperial Guard have some very cool mechs and tanks on hand. Anyone who has ever played a match with the Astra Militarum knows that there are few things more reliable in this galaxy than a good ol’ fashioned Leman Russ battle tank. And with all of the bad guys out there in the far future — the technologically advanced Necrons, angry bug Tyranids, and the mutated hordes of Chaos — it’s no surprise the vehicles get pretty filthy.

Image: FuturLab/Square Enix

Enter the protagonist of the Warhammer 40K pack for PowerWash Simulator, a tech priest tasked with cleansing these great weapons of war and appeasing the machine spirits within. I was surprised by just how much love went into the lore of this pack; you get to hear Commissars complain about their campaigns, read progress reports from your Mechanicum supervisor, and enjoy a good healthy dose of Imperial propaganda.

At one point, you’re even threatened with the grim fate of becoming a Skitarii — a cyborg frontlines foot soldier — if you don’t do a good job on that particular gig. The expansion could have been easy to rely on the joke of mixing the PowerWash chill vibe with the ridiculous grimdarkness of the 40K brand, but FuturLab did a great job at balancing the core gameplay with a full 40K vibe. It’s truly immersive.

The only criticism I have is that I wish there was a little more variety in the stuff you actually wash. Having to scrub down a level of Darktide after the rejects roll through could’ve been very cathartic. Instead, we get a few popular models from the Imperium of Man. These machines also have a lot of surface space, so it can get a little tedious hunting down the last specks of dirt on a tank (which is also a problem with the main game). But I liked getting to be a silly little tech priest, put on power washing duty, and doing my best for the Omnissiah.

PowerWash Simulator – Warhammer 40,000 Special Pack is now available.