Powerwash Simulator – Warhammer 40K DLC
Powerwash Simulator has proven through its previous DLCs that the creators at FuturLabs are having just as much fun as their player base. Stepping away from the backyard, Tomb-Raiding mansions, and pineapples under the sea, the latest addition to Powerwash Simulator offers the epitome of muck and grime. Warhammer 40K is not a family-friendly universe. It defines the very word “grimdark.” Choosing this as the next location to go for a relaxing romp with a powerwasher is a fascinating decision that ultimately pays off.
The first thing players will notice when jumping into the Warhammer 40K DLC is the monumental scope of your location. The Tomb Raider DLC gave us faithful recreations of Croft Manor. Back to the Future acknowledges it was a film set. This, however, doubles down on the immersion. You are not the plucky powerwasher who was hired to clean up. Instead, you are a Techpriest of the Adeptus Mechanicus. You have been conscripted into the service of the Machine God to restore and cleanse the machines of war. Everything about this premise is executed to perfection and suddenly you’re playing a different game entirely.
All five stages of this DLC take place on a Forge World, a planet controlled by the Adeptus Mechanicus in service of the Imperium. It is an incredibly detailed, explorable space. The level is filled with gothic architecture and an abundance of burning candles for praising the Omnissiah. It even features enormous, cathedral-like windows to peer out into the depths of space.
A Different Kind of Cleansing in Warhammer 40K
While playing the Warhammer 40K DLC, your usual scrubs have been replaced with the garb of a Techpriest. It’s a great detail, but sadly only one you’ll notice in multiplayer. I did not see the suit as a purchaseable option in the store which is a bit of a missed opportunity; Who doesn’t want to see a Techpriest cleaning the family’s station wagon? Even making it unlockable after completing the DLC would be a fantastic reward. Your trusty powerwasher is now the MKII Aqua-Santica Arquebus to keep the theming in line. It’s a beautiful and clever touch. It too, however, is restricted to the Warhammer 40K stages.
There are a lot of machines of war to choose from for this DLC. There is no shortage of options from the 41st millennium that might need cleansing. When it was announced, I thought we might even see something like Roboute Guilliman’s armor or perhaps the Golden Throne itself. What we have are five compelling and engaging stages that unfortunately come with a few minor missteps.
The Omnissiah Likes It Really, Really Shiny
The first stage is a great way to kick things off. The Ultramarine Land Raider is not only a large and imposing piece of machinery, but the details in the dirt and the mud add so much: bootprints, xeno-blood spatter, claw marks. It engages the player with the lore of Warhammer 40K by showing rather than telling. It’s a straightforward enough stage to complete easily and get the player hyped up for the next piece.
Stage two, the Dark Angel’s Dreadnought, is a logical escalation. Who doesn’t want to check out one of the series’ classic mechs? It’s an imposing model, tucked away in the corner of the stage. You’ll need to use the extra ladders built into the stage to scrub the model clean, but it’s worth it. This presented my first issue; While the Dark Angels tend to use a dark green color scheme, the Dreadnought uses more yellow tones. This would be fine, however, the illumination to show any dirt you missed also happens to pulse in yellow. It made it bothersome to find those pesky missing corners, but not enough to hamper the experience.
Beautiful Machines Brought To Life
This led to stage three and the moment I felt my shoulders slump. The Astra Militarum doesn’t get as much love as the Astartes, so it is nice to see them get featured. Giving us a tank, however – something with a significantly similar build to the Ultramarine Land Raider but smaller – felt more like filler than anything else. The details of the tank are great. Tools strapped in place, the gun turret, the bootprints at the manned gun on top. Love and care have been put into designing the stage, but it feels too familiar after already cleaning the Land Raider. I find myself playing to finish and move on, not to enjoy the gameplay.
With all that said, you’ll understand why stage four – the House Hawkshroud Imperial Knight – manages to be both satisfying yet sigh-worthy experiences. Here we have another mech. One so incredibly huge that the stage has built-in multi-tiered scaffolding to attempt to clean it from head to toe. While the Dreadnought was an engaging challenge, the Knight felt tedious. The muck was engrained so deeply into the inner workings of the Knight that you need to climb up and under the plating to get to it all. It also doesn’t help that the armor is, yet again, a yellow tone similar to that of the highlight to find all the dirt.
Yellow Armor Plating Makes For Dreary Cleaning
It’s an awe-inspiring model to see. It was a step up in terms of challenge from the Dreadnought, but it ultimately felt like more of the same. Why couldn’t it be from another Chapter? There are plenty of options to choose from in Warhammer 40K that wouldn’t make us have to repeat the ‘where is the dirt?‘ issues from blending in with the yellow plating.
With two sets of similar levels, the final stage would have to be something to change it up. In each of the previous Powerwash Simulator DLCs, the final stage is always the largest and most challenging. The Warhammer 40K DLC does not disappoint, capping things off with a Blood Angels Thunderhawk. When the stage loaded, I found myself wandering up and down the platform just marveling at the size of it. I tried to find a place to start, somewhere to begin tackling this beast before me. The unique shapes and paneling on the ship make it very easy to compartmentalize and break down into smaller, bite-size pieces. This is easily the most relaxing stage for me in the DLC. It’s a joy to restore it to its former glory and make it battle-ready.
You Are Adeptus Mechanicus
The previous Powerwash Simulator DLCs offered some unique features which surprised and delighted me. They set a new level of expectation in the hopes of something a little extra. The Invisible Car from the Spongebob Squarepants DLC was inspired. The Delorean and Doc’s Train from Back to the Future came to life at the end of the stage. I had hoped to see something like this in the Warhammer 40K stages. So much loving detail is put into the entire experience to make you feel like a Techpriest, but it just didn’t happen. The Land Raider could have sped off towards the giant hangar doors. The Knight could have powered up and taken a few steps. Little additions like that would go a long way to making the experience that much greater.
The Powerwash Simulator – Warhammer 40K DLC is a meticulously crafted experience that delivers more immersion than any of the previous DLCs. The level of detail in the environment, stages, and the very mud you cast away adds so much more to the presentation than one might expect. You can feel the love FuturLabs has for doing this property justice and it shows. Despite some minor grievances with similar stages and the use of colors that blend with the dirt guide, the Warhammer 40K DLC is another feather in the stellar cap of Powerwash Simulator’s DLC library.
**An Xbox code supplied by the publisher**