PowerWash Simulator VR goes Back to the Future with its latest DLC, which is brimming with movie magic.
Available today on Quest, the new Back to the Future Special Pack challenges players to delouse iconic props and buildings from the time-traveling '80s franchise into Futurlab's PowerWash Simulator VR. This adds five levels flush with ample architecture and finicky doo-dads to clean, taking players to iconic movie locations such as The Holomax Theatre and the Hill Valley Clocktower. You’ll also clean famous vehicles from Back to the Future, including Doc Brown’s Van, Doc’s Time Train, and The Time Machine.
PowerWash Simulator VR might seem like a straightforward concept but behind the mind-massaging relaxation of periodically swiping away grime, the moreish cleaning sim hides subtle storytelling techniques that you can get up close and personal with. Futurlab’s Back to the Future Special Pack continues this tradition with a clever premise. You’re the janitor on set at some of the franchise’s key set pieces, allowing for plenty of referential humour and fourth-wall-breaking jokes delivered via text messages you can read on your wrist while chasing that 100% clean criteria.
Doc's Time Train stood out amongst these levels thanks to its many moving parts. Mucky regulators and spinning coils tested my dexterity like a tricky carnival game. Regardless of how physically demanding it was, such hard-to-hit details and thoughtfully crafted set dressing helped the jobs maintain their cinematic whimsy. Elsewhere, The Time Machine presented a Daedalian circuit board of dirty switches and cooling pipes to maneuver around, each with a quizzical, vaguely scientific name attached. Finding and vanquishing the last specks of dust was undoubtedly frustrating but always offset by the triumphant ding marking my inevitable success.
Much like the base game, there’s a lack of visual consistency between the assets you clean and the surrounding environments, but it doesn’t detract too much from the meditative job at hand. Some occasional texture pop-in and juttering also impaired my experience on Meta Quest 3, but I was happy to soldier on to engage with the movie magic. Futurlab’s interpretation of Back to the Future’s most legendary vehicles and buildings never failed to engage my inner cinephile - it’s the closest you can get to being a virtual extra on these historic sets.
PowerWash Simulator VR - Back to the Future Special Pack is out today on the Meta Quest platform, and the base game is currently 30% off.
