Blast away messes (or create new ones) with these squeaky-clean games
OK, OK, you may be thinking, “If I don’t want to clean in real life, why would I want to do it in a game?” Fair point. That’s where the “extreme” part comes in.
The following games are all about mastering your messes in ridiculous, videogame-y ways. To soak in the experience even more, try saying some of the following one-liners while playing. You might end up feeling like an action hero from the 1980s*.
Action hero one-liners
“It’s time to clean house.”
“Now, that’s what I call a clean sweep.”
“Welcome to the clean plate club. And I’m the president.”
“My conscience is…clean.”
Happy gaming, everyone.
Let’s start with the obvious one here. In this game you can wash away your worries with the soothing sounds of high-pressure water. As you build your own in-game power-washing business, you’ll unlock new tools, upgrades, and more. Take in the relaxing atmosphere as you blast away grit, grime, and everything in between.
Luigi’s invited to the towering Last Resort hotel, but when Mario and friends go missing, our green-clad hero will have to conquer his fears to save them! Luigi wields the delightful Poltergust G-00 that can suck up ghosts with ease. You can also use it to interact with different objects around the hotel…sometimes causing a bigger mess than you expected.
When the King of All Cosmos accidentally destroys all the stars in the sky, he orders you, his pint-sized princely son, to put the twinkle back in the heavens. To clean up this mess, you’ll need to roll up a surprising number of items into a ball of…stuff. While you may start with paper clips and thumbtacks, it will quickly escalate to cars, cows, and uh, people…
Donut County is a story-based physics puzzle game where you play as an ever-growing hole in the ground. Meet cute characters, steal their trash, and throw them in a hole. But where does the hole lead to you, you ask? Uh, it’s better to just play and find out what’s going on.
OK, hear us out. The Splatoon 3 game is all about covering your surroundings in ink to gain a tactical advantage over your opponents. So that means that painting over your opponents’ ink is pretty much like mopping up the area, right? I guess it depends on your definition of “mopping”…uh, let’s move on now.
When burglarsbreak into the McClean home, a robot vacuum cleaner named Dusty must go rogue to protect his family. You’ll use your low profile to hide under furniture and perform powerful stealth attacks, hack smart devices to make impromptu traps, and befriend animal allies to defeat your enemies. All in a good day’s work for a vacuum.
The tough puff Kirby is back for 1-4 player** platforming adventure and subgames. Use Kirby's mighty inhale ability to clean up baddies (and copy their abilities), blocks, and treats alike. In Merry Magoland, gulp the most eggs in the Egg Catcher subgame—what a palate cleanser for Kirby!
*It also helps to make your voice as low and gravelly as you can. Maybe wear some sunglasses if you have them.
**Additional accessories may be required for multiplayer mode. Sold separately.