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Five years on from the original, House Flipper 2 is here to expand upon the now beloved ‘doing things digitally that you should be doing in real life’ genre that its predecessor helped to establish. Having not played the original, but nonetheless aware of how popular it was among friends, it was something that had always piqued my interest that I never got around to. So when the chance came to try the sequel, how could I say no?
I boot up the game, accept my first mission – to clean up a dank and dirty house – and get to work. And god, this is boring. Who in their right mind would want to play a game about cleaning? Oh hang on, washing that window was pretty satisfying. But I could be spending this time cleaning my real-life house instead of playi— Hey, scrubbing away all these stains is actually pretty fun. Within about five minutes, I had been converted from a naysayer to a true House Flipper fanatic, churning through house after house armed with my sponge and paint roller.
The core gameplay loop of House Flipper is about as simple as it could be. You take on jobs for different clients, helping them renovate their houses. At first, this is nothing more than cleaning up stains and collecting rubbish, but within a couple of hours, you’ll be painting walls, tiling floors, rearranging furniture, and even demolishing walls. Having to do all of these from the get-go would be fairly daunting, so adding them one by one is a clever approach.
As you use each of these tools, you begin to unlock Perk Points, which can be spent to buy upgrades like faster cleaning, a longer paint roller, and the ability to carry more tiles at once. This gives you a tangible feeling of progression and makes the larger houses you’ll come across later on much more manageable.
And when it comes to using these mechanics, you have a fair amount of freedom to choose what you want and don’t want to do. Each email specifies the jobs you’ll be required to perform, and you can always end jobs early for a smaller payout. As someone who doesn’t enjoy the unpacking side of missions as much as the cleaning and decorating, it’s nice to simply opt out when I don’t feel like doing it.
More than just a means of introducing the mechanics, missions serve the purpose of furthering the story, a new addition for House Flipper 2. You’re primarily working for a contractor who started his business in opposition to the big-bad corporation he used to work for that doesn’t care about their clients – not like you and him, eh?
And beyond that, you get to know some of the clients, too. Now and again, you’ll get a phone call from the owner of the house you’re working on, who will tell you about their lives and worries. This isn’t just some random job anymore; you’re making a room perfect for a grandma whose grandson will be moving in, or helping out a man who has had to shut down his business. These moments are voice-acted and add a lot of charm to the game. You aren’t just doing up houses for the sake of it; you’re helping out the lovely people of your town.
Beyond the story mode, you can still flip your own houses. With the money you earn from your clients, you can buy yourself a dilapidated old property, completely renovate it, and then auction it for a (hopefully) large profit. This is House Flipper action at its best; you aren’t held back by specific client requests and everything you do here is up to you. Want to make your dream home? Go for it. Want to create an unhinged crocodile-themed room that hurts your eyes? I know I did.
Going even further, the newly added Sandbox mode provides as much freedom as you can get. Instead of buying a property, you can build one from the ground up. And without the budget limit, you have total freedom to do whatever you want in this mode. I found the freedom a little overwhelming, preferring to work within the confines of a pre-existing house, but for players who want all of the decorating without budget constraints, this mode is a godsend.
The team at Frozen District knew what they were doing with this game. Rather than bloating a sequel to House Flipper with unnecessary new features and detracting from the core gameplay, they have doubled down on what made the original such a cult hit. New features complement the existing gameplay, while quality-of-life features look to make it a smoother experience.
It’s not a game I’m going to sit with for hours on end, day after day, but it isn’t trying to be. While playing House Flipper 2, I chatted with friends, watched Netflix, or simply relaxed and watched my paint roller fly. It’s not a game that’s meant to be completed so much as an experience to be enjoyed. In the coming weeks, when the chaos of the Christmas season becomes too much, I’ll look forward to retiring to the comfort of my room to chill out with some more House Flipper 2.
