The PowerWash Simulator 2 Star Wars DLC Is A Perfect Addition To The Game

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The Star Wars DLC was provided by Futurlab for review. Thank you!

The PowerWash Simulator series has always done some really interesting things with its DLC. They collaborate with big IP, allowing us to clean places from iconic franchises that we have come to know and love. The first game had some big names attached, including Tomb Raider and Back to the Future. And in the first DLC for the second game, we got to clean up the land of Ooo from Adventure Time. Now, the second DLC for PowerWash Simulator 2 has arrived, and it might be their biggest collaboration yet.

In the new DLC, which is releasing today, we get to clean some iconic scenes from Star Wars. There are six levels total, all from the original trilogy. Ahead of its lunch, I had a chance to test all of it out and see if the DLC is worthwhile, and as a Star Wars fan, it’s an easy yes.

Each of the stages offers a range of diverse buildings and machines to clean, which are challenging in different ways. Whether it’s Luke Skywalker’s home, the inside of a Star Destroyer, or the outside of a giant AT-AT, it feels like there’s a little bit of something for every kind of cleaner. Want something more contained? Clean Mos Eisley’s Cantina. Want a huge challenge where you’ll have to clean a giant machine? Well, the AT-AT is perfect.

And that’s not even going into the nostalgia factor. There was something unreal about seeing how big the AT-AT was when I had to clean it, feeling both daunting and exciting at the same time. Just like how the previous Adventure Time DLC was worth it for fans of the series, the Star Wars pack feels most rewarding if you love the franchise. And don’t get me started on cleaning the iconic ships in the hangar, because that was just wonderful.

And just like the last DLC, there are some small story elements to it. As we keep cleaning, we will get a text at the bottom left of the screen that follows some characters related to the stage that we are on. It’s not massive, but it’s a nice touch that breathes a little bit of extra life into the world.

However, there are some nuisances that come along with it. Some of the cleaning areas feel a little impossible to reach or require a specific angle that doesn’t really feel comfortable. The worst of these was trying to clean the underbelly of the AT-AT, which had me going back and forth multiple times to try to find the right angle and move my ladders to the right area. It was a little too time-consuming and obnoxious, making it something I dreaded doing towards the end of my cleaning more than anything else. I was stuck at 99% for so long, just trying to find the hidden cracks where dirt was residing, and there were a good chunk of hidden cracks.

And just like the previous DLC, I wish there was something more that was given to players to use on normal stages. Inside the Star Wars levels, we have a cool robot skin and custom equipment, but those are contained inside the Star Wars levels. I would’ve loved to see them be something we could use in general.

Just like the base game, it generally runs quite well on the Steam Deck, but I did notice a few levels where the framerate could drop. It didn’t happen in every level, but I noticed a few angles where, while cleaning, the game would bottleneck and the framerate would drop to 40 FPS. As soon as I turned off my spray, it would go back up to 60. It wasn’t the end of the world, but it definitely deserves a mention since it will be noticeable. This was tested on the default settings, so turning them down could fix this a little bit, but it’s still worth bringing up.

All in all, this is a DLC that I didn’t expect. The fact that developer Futurlab was able to get Star Wars levels cleaned is fantastic. It feels like a perfect fit, and the locations chosen gave a great variety of experiences that I came to enjoy with both its gameplay and nostalgia. It does have some issues with dirt locations in the bigger maps and some minor performance drops on the Steam Deck, but it’s a great time nonetheless and well worth the $9.99 for fans of the franchise.

PowerWash Simulator 2's Star Wars DLC is $9.99 on Steam right now.

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