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Spilled! is PowerWash Simulator’s oceangoing cousin, and just as chilledWaste and relaxation
Waste and relaxation
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Lente
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Lente
I’ve been scouringSteam Next Festdemos specifically for something laid back, andSpilled!– despite sounding like the title of a musical about upturned milk – has delivered nicely. It’s a light and breezy ocean cleanup game that has you sailing a cute lil’ boat around polluted seas, cleansing oil patches and scooping up plastic bottles. Even if it doesn’t have the every-last-speck detailing ofPowerWash SimulatororViscera Cleanup Detail, it satisfies in very similar ways, and I would very much like to get back out on the water whenever the full game is complete.
Spilled!technically operates on a cash-for-gunk system: returning any collected waste to a stationary mothership will reward you with coins, which can then be spent on improving your own boat’s speed, oil carrying capacity, and scoop size. Ultimately, though, these upgrades are optional, your only real task being the collection of those pollutants in the first instance. Plus the occasional rescue of gooed-up wildlife, who are subsequently added to… some kind of collection? It might just be a UI thing but I like to think all the animals come hang out on the boat out of gratitude.
Within minutes, you’ll be sweeping up enough polyurethane to send MrBeast into a viciously jealous rage. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Lente
It’s not challenging in any way, but that’s kind of the point, and at least there are a few different types of clearable junk to break up the routine. Oil slicks can simply be sailed over, but discard plastic must be manually pushed back to the control ship, thus calling for more careful steering. Eventually you get a water cannon to clean up stains above the waterline; again, this might lack the puzzle element of PowerWash Sim’s swappable nozzles, but damned if I don’t smile at its cartoon bubbling effect.
On that note, Spilled! understands that any cleaning game worth its soap needs a healthy collection of ear-pleasing sounds. These keep the gratifaction coming, whether it’s the soft buzz of your oil vacuum, the airy doinking of plastic bottles knocking together in the scoop, or merely the light trickling as your boat passes through freshly cleared waters. That’s all on top of an appropriately flowy piano ‘n’ strings soundtrack, too.
You cantry the demoyourself, including three stages of the game’s planned eight. Closer inspection of that Steam store page also reveals that Spilled! is actually beingdevelopedon a boat as well, so bonus seafaring points there for sure.
