I am always on the lookout for more cleaning sims, and the latest one to catch my eye is Moldwasher. A cute little pixel cleaning simulator, where we are a small bit of sentient sushi, who must clean up in various levels. The game was created by the team at Rubel Games, and available on Steam. A demo is also available right now for players to try before they buy.
A piece of food removing mould, isn’t what I would expect.
Gameplay
We play as a cute piece of sushi that has the task of removing mould from around a kitchen. Levels in Moldwasher have us cleaning various items you would find in the kitchen, some of these are needed to finish the level. While some are labelled as hidden dirty items. Some of these hidden items may offer stickers or soundtracks that you will use in the little hub zone. You can decorate with the various items you’ve accumulated. In the beginning, our little sushi is only equipped with a small pressure washer. But when completing a level, the money players make can then be used for upgrades and later on additional tools. Other tools players will acquire in Moldwasher are a pickaxe, a flamethrower, and a leaf blower.
As you progress, certain tools like the flamethrower will be needed to play specific missions. But the game does let you know. If you are tight on cash, then simply replaying levels will reward the same amount each time. Now, the mould itself does slowly grow back if players leave it unchecked. Or they have not upgraded the pressure washer’s pressure output. Thankfully, this doesn’t mean you can’t beat the level; it just takes longer.
Graphics & Audio
Moldwasher definitely nails down the chill, cosy cleaning vibe. The cleaning itself looks satisfying, like watching the mould and dirt just melt away with your power washer. The style has a fun and aesthetically pleasing pixel art style, with plenty of cuteness to behold. Particularly our star cleaner, the sushi (which is ironic for a high-risk food to be so into cleaning). I also love some of the funny little designs for other characters in the game, and the different patterns and effects for the mould (including but not limited to a galactic-looking mould!). With the plethora of collectables and stickers in the game, there are also plenty of interesting things to look at and references to guess. Ranging from a sticker that looks like a reference to the lazy egg Gudetama, to really pretty bismuth and opal crystals that you can place on your shelves.
The pixel art isn’t doing all the heavy lifting, however. The music is incredibly relaxed, with lo-fi style music, and insanely easy to switch your brain off to. I usually find myself turning on my own music after it fades into the background mentally and becomes monotony, but with this, it was just relaxed enough to not be a nuisance, but slightly plucky enough to keep you listening.
Longevity
I spent a solid 4 hours straight playing Moldwasher and enjoyed it, until I had an issue with a certain level. There are 27 achievements to collect, with one being to find all the hidden stickers in levels. None of these achievements seems too hard to actually obtain.
Final Thoughts
Moldwasher is cute, simple, and has various fun levels and tools to use. I never got bored with cleaning, and having different tools helps with switching things up. If you want something to just relax and play with, then Moldwasher is something that you can chill an afternoon away with. Unfortunately, my playthrough was stopped thanks to an issue with the beef monster level. But since I can see this being patched easily, I am still going to give Moldwasher the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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