Moldwasher Review: A Small Hero and A Big Mess | The Gamerheads Podcast

Platform reviewed: Steam

Price: $8.99

Moldwasher is a cleaning sim where I play as a little sushi roll, where my job isto make the kitchen clean. Because a healthy snack such as myself needs to stay clean and fresh. I’ve always enjoyed playing cleaning games. They y have this way of taking the repetitive nature and using it to place me into a state of zen. Rubel Games, the developer behind Moldwasher perfectly captures the zen I was expecting, from the music to the little trophy room I get to fill up with stickers and other collectables. During PAX East 2026 I was lucky enough to play the demo for Moldwasher and I am happy to see the potential I saw from my thirty minute demo would be captured upon the full release.

The variety of tools helped keep the game feeling fresh, pun very much intended.

The main reason this game stood out among other cleaning games released this year was its puzzle-like design of its levels. Instead of opting for the classic “here’s a mess now clean it up”, Moldwasher has a world that interacts with me. Several levels open up after cleaning certain objects. This speaks to the magic of the game, where some games have me audibly groaning as the mission gets longer; instead I did a little happy dance in my seat as more dirt and grime revealed itself to me, excited to wash or burn it away. Yes that’s right, the game may be called Moldwasher but I got to do so much more than just wash the mold. Throughout the game I unlocked more tools for cleaning, some didn’t have anything to do with water, because not everything can simply be rinsed away. The variety of tools helped keep the game feeling fresh, pun very much intended. The more I played, the more the shop opened up to me allowing me to take bigger cleaning jobs. I only wish there were more levels in the end game that required every tool I had, the game left me wanting more.

Playing through this game as a little sushi actually made me realize something, I enjoy feeling small. Maybe because I usually see the world at about six feet high, but I very much enjoy media that shows everyday objects in a completely alien way. Things like needing a little window cleaner elevator to scale the fridge as if it’s some towering skyscraper. Using this scale made the game more entertaining as opposed to if they gave us an isometric game with just a dude going around cleaning off houses and yards. Instead I was going into air vents or between the drywall and the exterior wall and cleaning what I can only assume to be cosmic mold. It’s never said outloud or stated plainly but I’m pretty sure the cleaning I did in this game prevented some sort of fungal zombie apocalypse with the house’s owner about to be patient zero.  

In between cleaning jobs I return to my little home base where I can decorate it to my taste using items I found out on my jobs. Some jobs, not every one, have hidden collectibles that vary from plushies toCDs that let me change the soundtrack of the game to my taste. I personally went with the Lofi series of CDs I found to really double down on the relaxing atmosphere that I was chasing. Letting me decorate my room as I like just like in any game that gives me that ability really helped in establishing ownership over my copy of Moldwasher, seeing my stickers and little imaginary fish tank that I made reminded me almost of my childhood room, covered in stickers, toys, and stuffed animals. 

Final Grade: A

Moldwasher is a short cleaning sim that left me wanting more but helped me find that kid-like wonder I used to have with the world. From the music to the cute little sushi, this game set out to make a calm relaxing experience for me and I will be returning to it when the world gets dark, because what better way to wash the darkness away then with some sushi.

Review code provided by Anshar Publishing