Powerwash Simulator is one of those games that seems super niche and kind of basic until you find out that it has one of the most dedicated hardcore fanbases out there. TheGamer staff is serious about it too, both because of its 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:therapeutic effects and its recently discovered 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:crossover potential (more on that in a bit). Unfortunately, I’ve never been bitten by the high-pressure hose bug. I understand the appeal, I totally get why my colleagues are 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:all obsessed, but it only takes a few minutes to make me feel like I got my fi❀ll of Powerwash Simulator. I don’t nee๊d to spend an hour hosing down Croft Manor, I get it.
Square Enix invited me to try out Powerwash Simulator VR at Summer Game Fest’s Play Days last weekend. 💝I may have turned it down if I hadn’t already been headed to Square’s venue to check out Foamstars. But I’m so🦋 glad I didn’t, because the virtual reality port turned out to be one of the best things I played all weekend.
Powerwash Simulator is such a natural fit for VR that it feels like it was always meant to be played that way. During the demo, a PR rep from Square Enix told me that the developers at FuturLab envisioned the game in VR from the very beginning. When they got the opportunity to work with nDreams on a port, they wanted to take their time and get it right. Thꦅe segment I played was considered a work in progress, but I could easily see this becoming one of my favorite VR games this year.
While the normal version of Powerwash Simulator has always felt slow and tedious to me, the VR version is an immersive, full body experience. It starts with the controller, which is coincidentally shaped just like the nozzle of a pressure washer, and when you pull the trigger, the vibration make🥂s it feel like you’re actually spraying a hose. You have one-to-one motion tracking with the sprayer too, which c𒁃reates a perfect sense of synchronization with your in-game body.
The demo I played only included the van from the first job in career mode, but I sprayed that sucker down like I was actually getting paid. You know that Powerwash Simulator has its hooks in you after you get that first layer of dirt off, the car is 85 percent clean, and you’re just trying to get those last little bits of crud off with the narrowest, beam-shaped 🌜nozzle. These are the most tedious moments for me in th♊e normal game because I’m fighting with the controls to get the best angle on a hubcap, but in VR, there are no limitations. I can crouch down, reach around a side mirror, stand on my tip-toes to spray the roof, lay down on my back to spray the undercarriage. It’s powerwashing in its truest, most realistic form. I can’t think of any VR simulator that feels more true to life than this.
The port will include all 42 levels from the original campaign, exactly as they were before with all the same tools and upgrades. I can only assume that the DLC packs won’t be far behind, so if you’re keen to transport yourself to Midgard, Croft Manor, or Bikini Bottom, I suspect you won’t have to wait too long. I got to spend a little time with the upcoming Spongebob Squarepants DLC for the non-VR version of the game, which will include five locations from the cartoon. I cleaned up Conch Street by hosing down Spongebob, Squidward, and Patrick’s houses, but at that point I had already played the VR version and there really was no going back. The Powerwash Simulator DLC packs do a great job recreating the worlds of other games, 🍌including Bikini Bottom, and just like the base game, they’ll be a lot more fun to explore in VR someday.
Powerwash Simulator VR launche🌳s on the Quest 2 and Quest 3 sometime this year, and while there’s no specific release date, it seems likely it will be around or after the Quest 3 comes out September 27.