Bus Flipper: Renovator Simulator Review (PC)

House Flipper ignited a wick within me that I never thought I’d feel—the need, no, the urge to transform the brittle bones of old homes into beautiful estates with all the flourishing embellishments befitting of a pristine utopia. In light of that newfound obsession, I made the decision to onboard whatever jobs I could get ahold of—a road that ultimately led me to Bus Flipper: Renovator Simulator, an ode to the flipping world and notable heir to the ever-expanding realm of decorative design and cozy living. It was sometime after planting roots in that field of recreational design that I found another obsession come to fruition: the need to turn enclosed spaces into cubbies for cafes, camper vans, and even annexes for entire office suites. I didn’t know I needed it, but weirdly, I did. And then some.

Bus Flipper taps into the visionary spirit of a young architect who shares an undying desire to turn just about any crag or crevice into something special. It ponders that question that we ourselves have asked countless times before: What would I do with the keys to a disused recreational vehicle? It asks us that, and then essentially hands us the keys to put our wildest creations in motion. Without lock and key, it gives us a bus, and it tells us that, with the right tools and artistic expression to support us, we can turn it into just about anything that our wildest imagination may dare fathom.

With all of the above said, Bus Flipper isn’t shy about giving you a messy slate to work with, either, thanks to its unnatural tendency to submit grubby designs and cluttered spaces to the livery than cozy cubbies and therapeutically apt zen environments. But hey — you can’t win ‘em all.

Anything Can Become a Home

It’s true — anything can become a home, provided you have the mental capacity and stubborn determination to exhume intricate nicknacks and doodads from the rubble of whatever shambolic monstrosity that looms before you. Here, though, it’s the buses that carry the comforts and the basic commodities of a home. And it’s your job, as the renovator of said buses, to build them up, decorate them, and sell them to potential customers in exchange for a small paycheck and other thematic benefits. From there, it’s a straightforward rinse and repeat process; the buses arrive at your workshop, and you flip them for small amounts of cash and better tasks and contracts, and so on and so forth.

Bus Flipper isn’t the longest renovation sim on the market; in fact, you should be able to tackle all of the buses that it has to dish out in a little over two hours. Not a lot of content to sink your teeth into, sadly. That said, the contracts that it does provide are, thankfully, surprisingly quite graft-worthy. By that I mean, there are plenty of options and jobs to throw yourself into—duties that often involve cleaning up waste, furnishing small spaces, scrubbing mysterious stains, and hacking at old furniture with your loyal crowbar. Think House Flipper, but with smaller spaces to work with, and you’ll have an idea of what we’re talking about.

The goal here is simple: appeal to the right customer, and sell your dreamboat buses for a sweet profit. The happier the customer, the higher the paycheck. It’s merely the case here, then, of checking all of the right boxes until someone finds a reason to splurge on your renovation project. You won’t need a degree in finance or retailing to make heads or tails of this gig, basically.

A Dream on Wheels

Bus Flipper is, first and foremost, a more affordable alternative to therapy. I say that because, as far as gameplay goes, there isn’t a lot for you to fret about. Aside from having to elevate the markup price—a task that requires a few additional steps, like scrubbing all of the nooks and crannies, as well as adding walls to the original design, for example—there are no major time constraints keeping you from bathing in the atmosphere and tackling things at your own pace. And I’ll be honest, you’ll want to take your time here, too. Again, due to the campaign being considerably shorter than your average flipper sim à la PowerWash Simulator, you could shovel through the bulk of it and mop up all of its content in just under three hours. That’s a shame — but it does at least leave a doorway open for any potential DLC.

There aren’t any notable technical issues that I need to bring to the table (yet) — so you can rest assured that these wheels in particular are greased enough for you to be able to hop behind the wheel and jump right into the action. Is it a seamless experience? Luckily, yes, though a few extra nuts and bolts on the general UI wouldn’t go amiss, either.

On a side note, I can’t say that the graphics or the audio effects are particularly impressive or remotely special here. It’s reminiscent of your traditional B-list flipping sim, if anything, and so, provided that you’ve relatively low expectations for the world design and its components, you shouldn’t struggle to grasp the shortcomings that lace up this renovation sim.

Verdict

Bus Flipper: Renovator Simulator is an ideal vessel for those who just want to bypass the mindless jargon of a convoluted build ‘em up and jump straight into the deep end of a good old-fashioned project. It’s a little on the short side, and so, content-wise, I’d say that a few extra missions or even the space for a DLC in the near future would certainly be a welcome addition to the campaign. That said, for what it does bring to the table in its current state, I can’t imagine that fledgling creators will struggle to bury themselves in the elbow grease and grime that stack up in this ridiculously satisfying, albeit short renovation project.

As I said before, if you enjoy games like House Flipper or PowerWash Simulator, then it’s highly likely that you’ll find just about everything you need and crave in Bus Flipper. It won’t keep you trucking on for long, but it’ll definitely keep you company whilst you wait for that next carrier to come strolling along.