PowerWash Simulator’s Final Update Brings the London Underground into Focus
What is being touted as its “final update” for FuturLab’s PowerWash Simulator has now allowed players to clean up a virtual London Underground train. While this appears to be lighthearted, it taps into larger movements in gaming culture, public transport literacy, and the role of simulations in digital entertainment. Furthermore, it suggests a useful case study of how video games create blurred lines between the fantastic and the real. This critical review assesses the consequences, context, and usefulness in the gaming and social landscape.
History
The cleaning game PowerWash Simulator was made by FuturLab, a studio based in the UK, and released by Square Enix Collective. It first went through Early Access in 2021, before a full release in July 2022. Players enjoyed PowerWash Simulator for its relaxing, object-based gameplay, as players could clear away debris to clean other everyday (and not-so-everyday) locations with powerful water jets. Early DLC expands the universe of PowerWash Simulator from cleaning in backyards to cleaning fictional sci-fi locations through special events crossover with big-name franchises, including Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy VII, along with children’s entertainment properties such as SpongeBob SquarePants.
This last update brings the focus back to reality, as it allows players to Power Wash locations in the London Underground, which is continuously ranked among the most iconic (and oldest) subway systems in the world. The level includes a tube train, which shows off PowerWash Simulator’s growth as a title, transforming from an adventure in cleaning to engaging with real-world infrastructure.
The update called “The Subway Pack” will be free content and it contains new missions themed around cleaning train cars and subway stations that are based on the London transit system. The design is reportedly inspired by the Jubilee line and its modern design, which also has silver trains.
Transport for London (TfL), the governmental body responsible for overseeing the Underground, has not formally worked with FuturLab which means that this is an unofficial representation. Despite that, the development team has indicated in earlier interviews that they worked diligently to reproduce a lot of the details of the underground environment using references found in the public domain and their internal design abilities.
The addition of the London Underground may seem only for entertainment purposes, but it does deserve some further examination. On the one hand, the London Underground is a more relatable urban experience for players, especially compared to the fantastical or exaggerated locations of prior updates. On the other hand, the emphasis on cleaning public infrastructure may suggest some social or political subtext, particularly as it comes directly after the post-COVID-19 context of heightened fears of the cleanliness of public infrastructure.
Nonetheless, the accuracy of the simulation must certainly be limited. While the game does present a fair level of visual detail, the game’s analogy to grime, dirtiness, and cleaning does not acknowledge the real experiences of cleaning crews within the Underground. Furthermore, a game can’t stretch and make formal connections with TfL, therefore, the game also doesn’t apply safety protocols or operational procedures or the historical contextualization of the system itself.
Simulator games have embraced the concept of “work” for some time—such as Farming Simulator, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and Train Sim World a lot of simulator games in the past have used ‘civic infrastructure’ as the work focus of the game (e.g., Cities: Skylines has a neighborhood transit planning, while SimCity has sanitation component). I think this is fascinating concerning its absurdity, plus a genuine compliment to conventional social work and service work.
The trend towards basing simulator games on work that reflects more authentic public service roles has not been widely discussed in mainstream media, often negatively. There are certainly instances where trivializing these roles and their work is done through play, but at the same time, these simulator games may lead to greater forms of public appreciation for much-needed and essential types of services.
Implication
For gamers, the update marks the conclusion of a game that has found a particular cultural fluidness through a mix of access and relevance. For educators and city planners, it provides a space to consider virtual spaces as a beneficial means for acclimating people to public infrastructure. Although it won’t supplant officially training citizens or create knowledge in the community via public information campaigns, PowerWash Simulator allows citizens to participate in stress-free engagement with civic affairs. From a business perspective, this project could enhance player retention and create new stories in the press because many games have had extended life cycles thanks to continuous content releases. For FuturLab, the last edition would be able to provide a conclusion to the game as a whole, as well as a bridging future product with similar principles.
The last update to PowerWash Simulator is connecting the virtual and real-world spaces in the game with a digital version of a London Underground train. The update sums up many trends we see every day in contemporary gaming: realism, civic awareness, and the encroachment of work into leisure. Though largely symbolic, it highlights a whole new character of engagement with urban infrastructure. When we come at this update through different lenses, historical, social, commercial, and experiential, it illuminates the ways that even playful game updates can tap into larger movements of culture and society.
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