Unlike the previous DLC pack for PowerWash Simulator, the Shrek Special Pack doesn’t have much in the way of a story at all. The only microscopic bit of story is that you’re a knight in shining armor that is armed with a power washer that’s shaped like a sword. As the knight, it’s your job to clean up the kingdom of Duloc.
For those unfamiliar with the PowerWash Simulator base game and previous DLC, you are tasked with using a power washer to clean up various locations and make money from those jobs to pay to upgrade your equipment or to purchase cosmetic items.
Though there isn’t much of a story, this DLC pack does feature a lot of notable locations from the Shrek films. The locations offered here are the village square of Duloc, Hansel’s Honeymoon Hideaway, Shrek’s Swamp, Fairy Godmothers Potion Factory, and Dragon’s Lair.
Those that are familiar with the series of Shrek films, will recognize these locations and the little details that are offered in each of these locations. Even if you’re not familiar with the films, there is still a lot to enjoy with this latest DLC pack.
The first location you find yourself in is the village square of Duloc. This is the village that Shrek and Donkey come to in the first film, but this visit has the entire square filled with muck and grime. With towering buildings, a carriage, and a nice flower garden area to clean, along with dirty cobblestone bricks for as far as the eye can see. When you first start the map, it looks really neat to just stand and look at. Then when you start to clean the enormously tall buildings and the insanely large ground areas, you quickly realize that it’s almost too large of a map. You could literally spend a real world hour or two just cleaning the ground that you’re standing on.
The second location you get to clean is Hansel’s Honeymoon Hideaway. This map has you cleaning the cabin, the honeymoon carriage, and a large sign. It feels like this map was added just as a means to have something else to clean. I don’t really recall this being a staple location in any of the films. Though not nearly as large as the first map, in fact it is one of the smallest maps in this pack; it still feels like a filler.
Shrek’s Swamp is the third location you get to clean and if it wasn’t in this pack, it would be rather odd. With this location, you get to clean Shrek’s Swamp, which sounds kinda weird given it’s a Swamp and should be dirty. Though maybe there is a limit to the muckyness of the swamp that Shrek and Fiona can stand. This map as well as the previous map, are the smallest maps offered in this DLC. Despite its size, you can have a lot of fun cleaning up the place. You get to clean Shrek and Fiona’s home, the outhouse and the ground around them. It may be small, but it’s definitely iconic and enjoyable to clean.
Fairy Godmother’s Potion Factory is the fourth location offered here. Fairy Godmother must have gotten a bit carried away with her potion making, or maybe she was just angry and started throwing things around the factory. The factory is a very large building that you have to clean the entirety of. There is a lot of much and grime everywhere. With as large of a map as this is, it can be a bit overwhelming and take a long time to clean up and complete. This map along with the first, are the largest map locations offered in this pack.
Dragon’s Lair is the fifth and final map you get to clean up. Though not nearly as large as the village of Duloc, it’s still a good sized map. So what this map lacks in size, makes up for it with the number of items you have to clean and all the little places that hide the grime and muck. This map has you cleaning the lair walls and the treasure room that features a lot of treasure pieces with some having to be cleaned off. As small as some of the treasure pieces are, this can make the map take awhile to complete.
The only negative thing I have to say about this DLC pack is the same thing I had for the last DLC pack that I covered for this game. The map locations offered have to stop being so large. Unfortunately, this seems to be an ongoing theme with these offerings. I am hoping that eventually we will start to see eight smaller map locations offered instead of the five or so offered that just have too much to do. I think that by offering a number of smaller map locations to clean would be a much more enjoyable experience.
Shrek fans and those that are looking for more to do in the world of PowerWash Simulator, will find lots to do with this latest DLC offering. It was a nice offering to tide those of us that are waiting for the next film over until it’s release. Even if it felt overwhelming at times given how large some of the maps were or how much there was to clean in a given map. This is still a DLC pack that I would recommend to those that enjoy this game. You will definitely get your money’s worth and have fun at the same time.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided
In addition to writing articles, Ryan Byers also creates content for his YouTube channel called "Obscure Games and Consoles", collects video games, and dabbles in video game development.