Garden Cleanup Simulator Preview: A Pleasant Surprise

You can find a ton of simulator games on Steam, covering almost everything. I’m not often interested in the management-style ones, as I tend to find these too much of a chore. However, a new one I stumbled across caught my eye: Garden Cleanup Simulator. I don’t mind games where you have to clean up. These I find more relaxing and somewhat therapeutic, if done right, so I decided to give the demo a try. 

Even though the demo only lets you try out two of its levels to give you a taster, it’s enough to leave a sweet taste in my mouth – and even have me seriously considering getting the full game upon release.

The demo for Garden Cleanup Simulator is now available on Steam.

Story – No Narrative Required, Just the Art of Tidying Up

There’s not much point wasting time with this section. Simply put, Garden Cleanup Simulator has no story, no narrative, nothing – and this is totally fine.

I have no idea if the full game will include a story, but to be honest, I’m not that worried. With a game like Garden Cleanup Simulator, my only focus is on the gameplay. This is just a tool to unwind with. No story required here.

Garden Cleanup Simulator doesn’t have any story, but that’s not an issue.

Gameplay – Unwinding While Cleaning and Gardening

This probably isn’t the first game to combine gardens and cleaning up. However, this by no means makes Garden Cleanup Simulator just another cleaning-up-gardens game. I went into the demo not expecting too much – and came away feeling pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed myself.

Equipment Required

As this is only the demo, you only get to play two levels of Garden Cleanup Simulator. Before you can start them both, you need to purchase the required equipment from the store. For the first, you need trash bags and a gnome, then for the second level, you’ll additionally need a watering can and bug spray. Fortunately, you have the funds needed to get the first set of equipment, then you earn enough to get the rest.

It gives you a good idea of what to expect for the full game. You can also get a look at the other tools you can unlock.

Checking Off the Checklist

Once you have everything you need, you can select a job and get going. There’s no messing around; you can get started with your checklist of tasks straight away.

You have a literal checklist at hand as well, keeping track of everything you need to do in the job you’re currently working on. The constant presence of this list fortunately doesn’t add any pressure to getting the job done faster; it’s just there to remind you of what you have to do and what’s left.

Every time a task is finished, it gets crossed off the list, adding a sense of satisfaction. Once all tasks are done, they vanish and are replaced with the final tasks: placing the gnome and then returning to your van to end the job.

Bigger jobs have more tasks to do.

Work to Be Done

The first job starts you off very easily; you just have to clear the litter from the yard, as well as tidy away any toys. In the second assignment, you have a little more to do, adding extra duties such as watering plants and spraying them for bugs.

Before starting any task, you have to retrieve the required tool from your van so you can equip it. Although the chores in Garden Cleanup Simulator are simple and relaxing to do, they’re not entirely straightforward, adding a touch of realistic tedium to them, which for a simulation game I can appreciate.

A Realistic Touch

For example, with litter collecting, you not only need to fetch a trash bag from the van, but each bag can only hold 5 items of litter each before you must dispose of it in the waste bin – and then you need to grab a fresh bag from the van. Every. Single. Time.

This is fine, but it does get a tad tedious when you’ve got nearly 50 items of litter to collect from the garden. You’ll be going back-and-forth across the garden to the bin and your van a LOT. I don’t mind this art of tedium terribly, but I think having a limit of 10 items per bag might have been more generous as opposed to 5.

Similarly, with the watering can, after watering a few plants, the can realistically needs filling up with more water. This is a nice touch, but again, going back-and-forth to the tap gets slightly old. I think the watering can could probably manage a few more plants than 4 in total before needing to be replenished with water again.

Trash bags can only hold so much and you need to fetch a new bag every time you throw one away.

A Chilled Experience

However, despite these little niggles about the tedium of these chores, Garden Cleanup Simulator has purposefully been set up to be a relaxing simulator game, with no added stress – and it certainly succeeds in this goal.

I honestly found myself feeling chilled out as I got into the groove of working on the job at hand, whether I was picking up trash or reviving wilted plants with water. I was actually sad when I’d completed both jobs and wanted more!

Expectations of the Full Release

Playing the demo of Garden Cleanup Simulator got me seriously interested in the full game. Although it hasn’t got a definitive release date yet, it is currently slated for a Q3 2026 release, so hopefully it won’t be far away. 

As I was purchasing equipment from the store, as well as looking through the Steam screenshots, I got a glimpse of other gardening gameplay available in Garden Cleanup Simulator. This included mowing lawns and trimming hedges. In my mind, the more the merrier! It would be quite a nice addition if you could do tasks such as painting fences and weeding.

In the demo, the final task after all the chores are done is to place a gnome somewhere in the yard. This might seem a bit random (especially if you’re not necessarily a big fan of gnomes), but I get why this was included. This feature does provide some inspiration though. What if, alongside adding gnomes, you can add other garden items such as bird feeders or plant pots?

I know this is a garden cleaning simulator, not a garden decorating simulator, but this would add a little more variety and creativity in the context of this existing task.

Regardless of whether these ideas are implemented, I think even as it stands right now, Garden Cleanup Simulator is a great title in the simulation genre and ticks all the right boxes. It just mainly needs a little refinement, but otherwise it’s nearly perfect.

The finished game could add more options for customization and creativity.

Graphics & Audio – An Attractive Suburban Setting

Garden Cleanup Simulator adopts a suitably clean presentation in its art style. It’s realistic as expected, but it’s not hyper-realistic, giving a slight cartoonish edge with its vibrant colors and bold style. It just has that right balance between realism and cartoony. 

The presentation is also important to the gameplay. Litter has to be easy to pick out amongst the grass, plants, and furniture in the garden, which is it. Revived plants that have been watered spring back into life, their bright colors of green popping out in an immensely satisfying fashion.

The UI design of Garden Cleanup Simulator is something to note, showcasing a cartoony style. One aspect that looks quite pleasing to the eye is when the water meter is getting filled up, the blue water flooding the bar.

Suitable sound effects are typically prevalent throughout the game, whether you’re throwing away a full trash bin or standing next to a bug-infested plant ominously humming loudly until you spray it. In one level, you can interact with a stereo that allows you to toggle music that plays in the background, providing a harmless selection of easy-going music as you tidy up the garden.