make the past less permanent: tattoo removal simulator is quietly breaking hearts on steam

there's a demo on steam right now that made me sit very still for a moment. not because of anything loud or dramatic. just because of a small tattoo on a woman's left knee — a child's doodle, a gurning little face — and the way the game asked me, gently, to erase it. the game is called *tattoo removal simulator*. it's made by uraga, a 20-person development team based in lithuania. their ceo, andrius gricius, is a former tattoo artist. the studio has done support work on things like *star trek: resurgence*. they are not a small hobby project. they are a real team who made a real thing that somehow got under my skin. the demo runs on a low-spec laptop. i think that matters. it means almost anyone can sit with it. the steam page describes the tattoos you'll encounter as "symbols of once-eternal love, mistakes that refused to stay in the past, jokes that didn't age gracefully, and secrets asking to disappear." i read that and felt something shift a little. the page also says: "every tattoo erased reveals a story worth remembering." these are not the words of a game that thinks it is just a game. andrius gricius spoke to 80.lv about where the ideas came from. he said: "some team members had friends who worked as tattoo specialists and shared funny or memorable stories. others had considered opening a real tattoo removal clinic. many of us have tattoos ourselves, with histories and meanings that still matter today." that last part. *histories and meanings that still matter today.* i keep returning to it. the full game will have three modes — sandbox, casual, and story — and vr support. no confirmed release date yet. the demo is what exists right now, in 2026, and it is enough to feel the shape of what they're building. the in-game writing is lighter than the steam description suggests. one client says "ooh this feels like a spa day" while you work the laser over their skin. there's a jaunty quality to it. but underneath that, something quieter is happening. the second client in the demo — the one with the child's drawing on her knee — she did something to me that i wasn't prepared for. i don't know whose drawing it was. the game doesn't say, not outright. it just lets you sit with the not-knowing. it's being compared to *powerwash simulator* in terms of genre — the satisfying, methodical cleaning of a surface. and yes, there is that. the laser passes, the ink fades. but powerwash simulator is not asking you to think about grief. this one is, a little. just a little. just enough. rock paper shotgun covered it, framing the whole thing around the phrase "make the past less permanent." whether that's an official tagline or just the right words for the right moment, i'm not sure it matters. it lands the same either way. i think about all the things people have marked on their bodies and then needed to unmake. the loves that ended. the names. the inside jokes that stopped being funny. the things we thought were forever. uraga built a game about holding a laser to all of that. and somehow it feels tender. [Original Source](https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/make-the-past-less-permanent-tattoo-removal-simulator-is-a-surprisingly-poignant-take-on-the-powerwash-clean-up-genre)