The 5 best cleaning games

Spring is here, and that means it’s time for spring cleaning! No, I’m not referring to my actual home, which I guess I’m also going to clean at some point, but we aren’t going to discuss that today. I am referring, of course, to the far more soothing experience of cleaning up a virtual space in a video game. There’s just nothing quite like the sensation of moving a mop icon on top of a digital dirt pile and clicking, clicking, clicking until it all disappears. If real-life mopping were that satisfying and simple, maybe I would actually do it (instead I own this robot mop, which is great, but again, that’s not why we’re here).

You might not know it, given how often I talk about my love of Elden Ring or parrying in Dark Souls, but cleaning games are one of my favorite video game genres — the perfect counterpoint to a tough FromSoftware title, if I may say so. Also the perfect end to a tiring real-life day! The five games on this list have seriously soothed my brain, and now I pass them on to all of you.