Even for those of us who struggle with tidying and organization in our real lives, there is something intensely satisfying about playing a game with the task of cleaning. Perhaps it’s the additional structure or the allure of clear-cut rewards like achievements or time scores. Some games even center a narrative around the task of cleaning. Mopping the floors has never felt so profound.
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Whether you intend to inspire yourself into action or need a reason to procrastinate while still feeling productive, here are some of the best games to satisfy that cleaning itch.
Updated January 25, 2025, by Zackary Wiggs: While there is definitely something satisfying about beating a boss or leveling up your favorite RPG character, these games are more about the cozy and neat side of satisfying. From running your own cleaning business, to something as simple as picking up around the house, these games take some of the more mundane parts of life and make them shine with a certain brain-scratching satisfaction. This list now includes some similar games that also border on the puzzle side of things, put you in a fantasy tavern, and even have you poolside.
16
A Little To The Left
- Released
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November 8, 2022
- Developer
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Max Inferno
- Publisher
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Max Inferno
- Engine
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Unity
- ESRB
-
e
- How Long To Beat
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4 Hours
- OpenCritic Rating
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Strong
Sometimes your typical cleaning game isn’t enough to scratch the itch. That’s where A Little To The Left comes into play. It’s a cleaning game at its base for sure, but with a fun twist to keep things interesting.
Each of the levels has you cleaning household areas and objects, but they take the form of puzzles that need to be solved methodically. In addition, your faithful household cat likes to come around from time to time to mess up your work. It’s a fun concept, albeit short-lived.
This is a great game for middle to younger audiences as it has simple concepts, but older audiences won’t find it pandering either.
15
Minami Lane
While most cleaning games might have you satisfied with cleaning a single room or a house, others like Minami Lane, aren’t content until you have an entire street under your care. It may sound like a lot of work, but it’s also a lot of fun.
Here you get your own cutout street in a small Japanese-inspired town. You can build, decorate, and spruce up the street from top to bottom. It’s a little bit of everyday maintenance and a lot of finding out what your ideal community would look like.
14
Pool Cleaning Simulator
Summer days are great for sitting out by the pool, but unfortunately, those pools need cleaning every so often. Pool Cleaning Simulator has you by the water, whether or not you care for the chlorine, and even on those cold winter days.
Go from pool to pool, both indoor and outdoor, spreading chemicals, power washing, and picking up leaves, all to make sure that someone’s next dive is serene. Put on your favorite summer playlist and relax.
13
Tavern Manager Simulator
For a lot of sims, cleaning is only part of the fun. Tavern Manager Simulator doesn’t just have you washing dishes and clearing wooden tables of tankards, it also has you taking orders and prepping food.
It’s a satisfying game for those who like cleaning sims but also want some of that cozy fantasy feel to it. You also get to upgrade your tavern to your liking, making it a go-to place for adventurers of all kinds.
12
Lawn Mowing Simulator
Lawn Mowing Simulator
- Released
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August 10, 2021
- Developer
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Skyhook Games
- Publisher(s)
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Curve Digital
- Engine
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Unity
- ESRB
-
e
- How Long To Beat
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20 Hours
- PS Plus Availability
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Extra & Premium
- OpenCritic Rating
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Fair
Lawn Mowing Simulator fits neatly into a category of weirdly satisfying games. Tidy up your clients’ yards while driving riding lawnmowers and grow your lawn care business to its full potential.
Much like PowerWash Simulator, you could easily spend hours mastering the art of mowing in perfect rows. Or, if you are craving a little chaos, you could try your hand at crafting crop circles. The world is your yard.
There are even different mowers to pick from, for extra replayability of course.
11
No Place Like Home
Cleaning up trash might not seem that dire of a chore, but in No Place Like Home, it makes a world of difference. This farming simulator occurs in a WALL-E-inspired future, where all the humans left for Mars after turning Earth into one giant junkyard.
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Your mission is to clean up the waste left behind and make Earth livable again, or at least a little less gross. Suck up massive mountains of trash and debris with your vacuum pack and turn that junk into recycled resources you can use to build your post-apocalyptic farm.
10
Fresh Start Cleaning Simulator
9
If you enjoyed playing No Place Like Home, you should check out Fresh Start Cleaning Simulator, a first-person cleaning game developed by the same studio, Chicken Launcher. Fresh Start combines the point-and-shoot mechanics of PowerWash Simulator with the warm fuzzy feeling of that Dawn soap commercial where the volunteers wash tar off a baby duckling.
Rather than handle a powerwasher, Fresh Start gives players a unique cleaning machine: a water hose/vacuum hybrid. Players must clean ecosystems, water plants, and feed animals on their journey. In addition, each Fresh Start level includes hidden puzzles that take advantage of the cleaning machine’s mechanics. So, you’ll get some Portal-Esque brain-teaser action as well!
8
Wilmot’s Warehouse
What you want is a highly satisfying yet simple organizational game. Well, it does not get any more simplified than Wilmot’s Warehouse. You are a tiny little square operating a massive and rather dark warehouse. As new deliveries come in and more customers trickle through, your task is to keep your inventory as organized as possible.
How you organize all your little patterned boxes is entirely up to you. Finding a system where you can easily remember the layout is crucial since Wilmot has a limited field of view. You can even play with a friend in co-op!
7
Unpacking
If organizing the rooms in our home felt as straightforward as playing Tetris, we all might be more inclined to straighten up our messes. From Humble Games, Unpacking is an isometric puzzle game that tasks you with the chore of unloading moving boxes and neatly putting each item in its perfect place.
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With each new item you tidy away, you can learn something new about its owner, revealing little tidbits of the story with its unique take on environmental storytelling.
6
Rumu
Have you ever wanted to spend a day as a Roomba, blissfully unaware of the world and any solid objects around you, knocking into table feet and couches as you please? It might seem like a cute game, but under its surface, Rumu is more than just a simple Roomba simulator.
Created by genius but absent roboticists, Rumu finds itself alone except for an omnipresent AI that assigns it messes to clean. The messes grow more concerning as days pass with no sign of Rumu’s creators. Soon, little Rumu starts uncovering things no vacuum should ever get burdened with.
5
House Flipper
Finally, a game perfect for HGTV fans. Now you can be the star of your own House Flipper show, minus the camera crew. This game has every sort of mess you could hope to tackle: mud, dust, mold, and even bugs. Take on decrepit houses one by one, cleaning up old messes, repairing broken furniture, and remodeling shacks into dream homes.
With tons of interior design options, you can let your creative side loose. The detail is incredible… you might even have to rewire the sockets! Hope you were paying attention in home education class.
4
Viscera Cleanup Detail
You would be hard-pressed to find a more quintessential cleaning game than Viscera Cleanup Detail. Just imagine you are the guy called to the scene to clean up after the Demogorgon outbreak at Hawkins Lab.
In various similar-looking experimental labs “gone wrong” scenarios, you must mop up the blood and incinerate all the torn body parts. With a bright cartoonish style and laughable physics, Viscera Cleanup Detail is a hilarious time, made even more priceless with the addition of multiplayer.
3
Serial Cleaners
In yet another dark spin of the “cleaning” game genre, Serial Cleaners amps up the stakes by having you clean up a crime scene in real-time. Yes, you are a professional “mob cleaner,” which means that even as the police descend upon the site of the murder, you must sneak around picking up every trace of evidence.
Move bodies, mop up blood, and don’t get caught! Serial Cleaners has a unique 2D art style strangely reminiscent of modern corporate art, an exciting contrast to the game’s otherwise bloody aesthetic.
2
The Beginner’s Guide
This title might not be a “cleaning game” through and through. Instead, it not only promises to help tidy your room but tidy up your whole life. The Beginner’s Guide is a must-play for any creative person. From the creator of The Stanely Parable comes a unique experience about creativity, depression, and friendship that will hit close to home.
The narrator, Davey Wreden, guides you through a series of short and often incomplete games created by his friend, who stopped developing video games. The game features a prominent “cleaning” segment where you must help a faceless NPC tidy a house endlessly. Just make sure you bring a box of tissues before you play.
1
PowerWash Simulator
PowerWash Simulator achieved viral fame for its simple but effective cleaning mechanics. You are the proud owner of your own power-washing business in this game. There is plenty of inspiration from the trend of “weirdly satisfying” videos that portray scenes like power-washing dirty sidewalks and algae-crusted pools.
Take contracts for new houses and other zany locations, including the Mars rover, and build up the funds to invest in the tools of your trade. It might seem silly, but at its core, PowerWash Simulator is a very zen experience.
There is also a series of DLC for the base game that includes more out-there levels, like cleaning futuristic tanks in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
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