House Flipper 2 Review (Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 & PC)

When my significant other asked me to clean out the garage earlier this month, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and reluctantly ask myself whether or not it was a task that needed doing. And yet, when a complete stranger popped up to ask if I could scrub raccoon prints out of a virtual carcass of a home, I couldn’t help but grab my tools and leap at the opportunity. Rather annoyingly, House Flipper 2 has that affect on me, and I honestly can’t tell if I’m grateful for the work, or concerned about where my priorities lie. Either way, I can’t help but apologize to my wife; it isn’t that I don’t want to clean the garage — it’s just that there are more pressing matters to deal with in the town of Pinnacove. Sorry.

Anyway, House Flipper 2 is, after several years of dwindling on the back burner, alive and kicking, and it’s absolutely bursting with new vessels to generate, decorate, and ultimately obliterate. It’s also brimming with a few new nifty features, too, including an original sandbox mode—a creative suite that allows you to build the homes of your dreams with an infinite wealth of paints, trinkets, and bricks. So, quite the step up from its previous incarnation that launched back in 2018, after all.

In just under a dozen or so hours, I’ve been able to smash through enough walls and lay the foundations for a handful of new homes, and so, in my mind, I’ve “mastered” the art of renovation. I haven’t, but I like to believe that I’m one of Pinnacove’s go-to innovators, at least. But, how did it all come to be? Well, if you are looking to buy into Frozen District’s latest sandbox IP, then read on for the introductory spiel.

Building an Empire

House Flipper 2 starts out in a similar way as the original: you acquire a bombshell of a home, and are essentially tasked with picking up odd jobs around town to earn a wage, which can then be used to buy better tools, decorations, and eventually, abandoned plots to renovate and transform into luxury dwellings for the folks of Pinnacove. To get to the latter, however, you must first embark on a rather lengthy journey—an episodic adventure that mainly involves scrubbing floors of grime and droppings, and adding fresh paint to a few textureless walls. Nothing a few quick clicks can’t fix, of course, what with the bulk of the mechanics restricting themselves to a mere tap of a button or—dare I say—a firm grasp of two buttons at the same time.

To put it out there, House Flipper 2 is not a difficult game, nor is it one that poses an endless web of mind-melting puzzles or environmental challenges. Like the original, the campaign aims to deliver a therapeutic experience that can be enjoyed either in short bursts, or for drawn-out periods of time, depending on how much you adore the chore core elements. Either way, it isn’t all that complicated, and so, if you’re a sucker for clean floors and trimmed hedges, then you’ll probably fall head over heels in love with what House Flipper 2 has to offer.

Speaking of the offerings, House Flipper 2 has a vast collection of locations to explore, all of which present their own jobs, buildings, and clients. From Crayfish Coast to Coralroot Forest, and a whole bunch of biomes between, the sequel strikes surprisingly hard with the presentation, allowing for you to garner more bang for your buck, so to speak.

I’m Not a Cowboy Builder

Each property in House Flipper 2 hands you a series of objectives to complete, which mainly consist of cleaning floors, painting walls, and assembling furniture to create a homely ambience for the client. Again, like the original, none of these checklists require 100% completion to unlock the next job, although assuring that each objective has been completed does provide a couple of benefits — a higher payout, being the most obvious one. And not only that, but a greater sense of accomplishment, too—a feeling that I was often willing to chase, even if it meant getting between the crags and crevices of a stately manor for the umpteenth time.

Truth is, at no point during the campaign did I ever feel bored enough to romp through the motions and accrue the minimum funds in a timely manner. In fact, I found myself searching for extra credit, even when it wasn’t apart of the floor plan or job description that the client had handed to me on arrival. It wasn’t a requirement, but due to the game being that addictive, I was able to go above and beyond and stick around long after closing time. The client didn’t want me there, but I certainly wanted to be.

Of course, a huge portion of the duties are often repetitive, which doesn’t really come as much of a surprise, given the fact that your primary objective is to, you know, clean. But due to the simplicity of the process, and not to mention the easily accessible wheel of tools and items, it isn’t exactly a slog, either.

Cleaner, Simpler, Better

The main question is this: is House Flipper 2 better than the first, mechanically, visually, and aurally? In short, yes. For starters, it’s easier to switch between tools while out on the job, and it’s also easier to carry out certain duties without having to endure the headache of cleaning up additional debris on the side. What’s more, clients also chime in to update you during the jobs, which means you don’t technically need to resort to flipping open a laptop and hiking back and forth between the plot and your hub to comb over the finer details.

What sets the second installment apart from the first is its Sandbox Mode, which essentially serves as a whole other ball game, and one that allows you to flex your creative muscles in any way you see fit. Provided you sought out the appropriate tools and brushed over the correct tutorials, the Sandbox Mode pretty much gives you full control over your own blueprints. And this a real boon, for sure, as it separates the repetitive tasks from the personal ones rather well, which meant I was often able to change the pace and carry out my own work without the checklists or minor distractions.

House Flipper 2 also looks a lot neater than the first, too, with a cleaner interface to scrub over and even better animations to keep the fluidity in check. And while I for one did stumble upon the occasional flaw, such as the odd piece of furniture needing to be removed, sold, or demolished after being placed incorrectly, I never found it too much of a burden. If anything, it taught me that I needed to take things slowly, and not rush each item on the agenda for a quick payday.

Verdict

House Flipper 2 goes above and beyond to boost the overall quality of the original game that launched back in 2018, and it does so by adding not only a Sandbox Mode with an enormous amount of customizable options, but also a selection of genuinely interesting and enjoyable jobs and mini-games, too. Could all of this have made the original cut? Absolutely. But then, I’m not about to refer to the sequel as a shameless cash grab, either, for it is, in my eyes, a game that’s worthy of having its own platform, and not just an additional beam in the shadow of its predecessor.

From the revamped Sims-like visuals to the boosted performance and customizable features, House Flipper 2 stands its ground as one of the most enjoyable renovation simulation games on the current market, and then some. And while it isn’t likely to snatch any awards for its storytelling capabilities, it is, on the other hand, likely to find itself glued to the strings of countless fledging builders’ hearts.

To cut the long story short, if you did happen to miss the initial chapter that came out back in 2018, or even the DLC that followed on from its release, then you’ll definitely want to consider planting roots in the newest addition to the series. It’s simple, relatively mindless, therapeutic busywork, and it certainly helps alleviate the stress between bulkier campaigns in games that are thrice as demanding. In other words, if it’s a “cozy” build ‘em up that you’re on the market for, then look no further than the boroughs of Pinnacove.