House Flipper 2 Review (PC/Xbox Series X)
Summary: An accessible, calm little simulator that finds joy in the quotidian, with plenty of scope for creativity.
4.5
Can we flip it? Yes we can!
Video games have an uncanny way of making the most mundane facets of life absolutely fascinating. I can think of nothing more quotidian than the mere act of spring cleaning, for instance – and yet there exist not one, but two games all about it, by the same developers no less. The latter of which, House Flipper 2, released on PC last year and is coming to Xbox platforms this month, with all of the PC version’s updates and patches included in the package.
Much as it would be unexpected for a game of this sort to have any sort of story, House Flipper 2 has one anyway. You have recently moved to the coastal town of Pinnacove to begin a new career as a renovator, cleaning up, remodelling and redecorating people’s houses for them, starting with your parents’ old house, which they have very kindly given to you to do with as you please (Were it ever so easy to just obtain a house in today’s economy!)
As more and more people request your services, you unlock bigger and better jobs further afield, and with any luck, make a tidy little renovation business, as well as a little real estate side hustle. While more of an undercurrent than a plot so to speak, it does at least make the gameplay loop a tad more interesting, especially when your clients can ring you up to make little extra requests mid-job, which you can respond to in whichever way you like, or just ignore if you’re an introverted sort.
Always nice to have good PR.
House Flipper 2’s main gameplay loop shouldn’t require much explanation. The people of Pinnacove need help with their housekeeping, so you come and tidy up their messy homes and get paid for it. You start off with simple cleaning jobs, buying a few new bits of decor and clearing out old furniture, moving on eventually to making full-on structural alterations. It’s a relatively simple and admittedly repetitive, premise, and on Xbox the controls can sometimes be a bit fiddly, in particular with the finer movements.
Nevertheless, there’s a certain satisfying edge to the whole affair of rectifying people’s messy mancaves, disorganised domiciles and poorly-kept pads with your ever-expanding arsenal of cleaning and building equipment, scrubbing away the grime, dirt and tacky décor choices, and seeing how much different it is by the end, all to the tune of some gentle Sims-esque easy-listening music. That said, it would be nicer if a few more features were added, say, a little before-and-after animation to see just how striking the differences are. That said, this is just one of the features that is actually in Frozen District’s development roadmap for the game, which players can interact with and post suggestions on.
Time to get to work.
Besides spit-n’-polishing other people’s abodes, you can also buy real estate of your own to do up and sell for a profit – or move into yourself. There’s plenty of different properties of varying degrees of structural integrity to be purchased, and as before stated as well, you also start off with quite a nice little property left to the player character by their parents, who have moved elsewhere. You’re free to do whatever you desire with these properties – perhaps a new coat of paint is all you want, you could gut them entirely and start afresh, or you could even knock the whole existing house down and build a whole new one if you so desire.
I personally slowly renovated the starting house as I played through the story, and it was fun to see the house changing over time as I unlocked more tools and features with which I could transform the tired-looking property into something nice and livable. For those who like designing their own houses, the game also boasts a Creative mode where you can let your ideas run wild in an empty lot. Or if your idea of a fun afternoon is going to Ikea and building furniture, you can do that too in the game’s Assembly mode, which tasks you with putting together flat-pack furniture in exchange for little stat boosts in the Story mode.
Spick and span.
Final Thoughts?
In the hustle and bustle of the modern world, House Flipper 2 teaches us to find solace in the mundane. Familiar and accessible, it’s as cosy as the renovated houses of its namesake, Neat freaks and creative types both can find a little peace in this calm and satisfying simulator, be it in helping someone with the aftermath of a raccoon breaking into their bungalow, breathing new life into an unloved beachfront holiday home, or just putting up a table or two. And while it’s a little rough around the edges in places, the developers make their roadmap transparent, involving their players every step of the way. I’d suggest trying this one out even if you think you may not enjoy it – much as I was, you may end up surprised.
House Flipper 2 is available on Steam, Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5.
About the Author
Edward Gosling Ed has been playing games since he was in primary school, and now has a Steam library of over 2000 games, only a fraction of which he has actually played!
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