Our unfortunate planet in Wasteland Waste Disposal has experienced not just one apocalypse, but all of them. It turns out the “mega-apocalypse” was an unhealthy combination of “every worst-case apocalypse scenario imaginable.” Luckily, this upcoming sandbox adventure features a giant metal fortress that walks on giant spider legs over the puddles of toxic sludge and eats all the trash you bring it. If that doesn’t intrigue you, maybe the little janitor with a sci-fi vacuum cleaner (or the feel-good music reminiscent of Adventure Time songs) will convince you.

It looks like your mobile metal fortress will be the main focus, as you upgrade it with new equipment and remove scaffolding on the outside to make room for crucibles and roof gardens. However, according to developers Kluk Digital, acid rain and radioactive storms can take their toll on the shell. The other major task you’ll complete is to descend to the cursed surface of the Earth in a large elevator and do a lot of environmental cleanup work. For example, we see our hero riding in a small excavator and a forklift, steadily cleaning up a small city district. There will also be creatures to collect and breed, with helpful or harmful habits. “Not all organisms are equally useful,” say the game’s developers.

Cleaning games have a power over me. The red sludge of Viscera Cleanup Detail is a gag, stretched out like a yellow rubber glove until it becomes a kind of mandatory duty. Its down-to-earth equivalent, PowerWash Simulator, fills me with healthy dread because I know once I start playing it, I’ll never stop. But my favorite recycling-themed game is Hardspace: Shipbreaker, in which you laser away at metal and glass in zero gravity, surrounded by giant disposal machines that will suck you up just as quickly as they swallow old passenger seats.

All of these games make you want to turn slime into shine, or gristle into cleanliness. And when I watch the timelapse of the teased beauty artist in Wasteland Waste Disposal scurrying about, hoovering up leaves, twigs, and mud to turn an urban ruin into habitable space, my “cleaning” glands get very activated. The developers want to create a “small open world” inspired in part by The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Dredge, they say, which is a nice mix of influences. Many open-world games can afford to be more compact. I’m looking at you, Elden Ring.

There’s no release yet, but you can wishlist it on Steam if you’re the detox type.