Sports: Renovations Review (Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 & PC)

It’s late, and yet, here I am, still mopping up the glass shards and waxing the stained wood floors of this old basketball court, forever hell-bent on transforming its shambolic appearance into something spectacular. The local tycoon is due to swing by in the morning, most likely with the intent to sign the contract and begin construction on that innovative shopping mall that they so desperately wanted to erect after the court’s untimely closure. But I won’t have it. With brick and mortar I will return this sports facility into a vessel of its former glory. If I can achieve just enough, then perhaps the home team will come back to root for their former headquarters. Maybe, just maybe, a bit of extra polish and a whole lot of wishful thinking will turn these derelict ruins into something special. I’ve a lot to do, and I’m staying till the buzzer.

Sports: Renovations isn’t massively different from the likes of House Flipper, PowerWash Simulator, Hotel Renovator — or just about any other sandbox-construction hybrid that gives you the opportunity to smash walls, scrub tiles, or recycle clutter, for that matter. In a similar vein as its kin, the game sees you traveling to a selection of disused courts, pitches, and gymnasiums, and then using a variety of cleaning tools to transform the fossilized recreational facilities into squeaky clean communal spaces for athletic activities. As per the norm, there is a storyline to explore—a rather barebones story that doesn’t stretch bunch beyond the usual trimmings, I’ll admit—and there is a gameplay hook that’s as equally rewarding as it is educational, believe it or not. But more on that shortly.

Flying the Flag for Athletics

As the saying goes, if you’ve flipped one house — you’ve flipped ‘em all. Well, you could argue that the same thing applies to flipping sports facilities, to be fair. Like what House Flipper does in its own world, Sports: Renovations tasks you with skipping between rundown buildings—basketball courts, boxing gyms, Olympic-sized pools, and climbing facilities, to round off just a few from the list—and completing a series of self-explanatory objectives, such as applying a fresh lick of paint to the wall, using a magnetic tool to empty trash cans and other leftover bits of waste, scrubbing graffiti from the walls, and spending a bit of extra cash on embellishing the areas with better quality equipment and cosmetics. And that’s really what the job is: gradually removing the excess waste and grime from the surface to reveal the true value of the facility beneath.

In a similar fashion as a lot of building-centric games out there, Sports: Renovations rewards your efforts with several perks, including cash and experience. With these two things in your back pocket, you can unlock additional tools to boost your skills, add more variety to your decor choices, and expand your HQ to earn even more in-game perks and rewards. It’s a dated concept, for sure, but one that harbors a lot of firepower and satisfying gameplay progression. Sort of like PowerWash Simulator, where players are instructed to spend numerous hours alternating between one of four, maybe five duties in total, the task itself is often monumental in size — but it’s also made to feel rewarding with each passing goal that you gracefully execute.

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It’s Off to Work We Go

Sports: Renovations is chore core work in its simplest form; it involves carrying out tasks that you wouldn’t normally want to do in real life, but in exchange for better perks, like additional quarters for your office, add-ons for your cleaning tools, and a series of side quests that offer extra rewards and incentives for you to pursue. And don’t get me wrong, there is a lot to work through here, so don’t expect to romp through the first handful of courts and gymnasiums in an hour or two. Aside from having to scrap the barrel clean of all its debris and garbage, there is also the matter of having to both decorate and formally arrange items in order to boost the appeal and, in turn, attract future visitors, too.

With all of the above said, Sports: Renovations is, at least for the most part, an incredibly relaxing game. And by that, I mean that there are no timed events, nor are there any unwarranted curveballs for you to juggle on top of your primary duties. This isn’t that sort of game; on the contrary, it’s an easygoing thumb-twiddling sim at heart, and so, while the sheer size of each location can be threatening, to say the least, the actual process of rebuilding each facility and rekindling the foundations is as equally simple as it is engaging. And the best part is, it operates in a smooth manner, with little to no shoddy UI elements or notable mechanical issues to dampen its aesthetic. Granted, its visuals are a little on the cartoony side of the spectrum, but that’s hardly a deal breaker, given the variety of locations and authentic designs.

Verdict

If you can gloss over the fact that Sports: Renovations  doesn’t really contain much of a compelling story for you to unravel, then you should be able to unearth a lot of enjoyable elements in its fairly meaty campaign. It’s a bit of a slow burner, I’ll admit. But then, so is PowerWash Simulator — and look at how well that did in its first season. It’s a chore core experience, clear as day, and so, if that’s the sort of dirty work that you enjoy sinking your teeth into on a casual Sunday afternoon, then I have no doubt in my mind that you will enjoy waxing courts and scraping grime and dust from a handful of gym bathrooms.

As I said, the story is a little cliche—rich developer wishes to build over the rustic foundations of an old basketball court, and a fledgling cleaner opts to step up to the plate to earn the funds and oppose their plans to abolish its legacy for illogical renovations. But that’s a minor issue, and one that, quite frankly, isn’t worth complaining about. Sports: Renovations isn’t the sort of game you would play in the hopes of getting lost in a rabbit hole of interweaving plot points and character arcs; it’s the sort of game you would unwind to with a lo-fi playlist and a tub of graham crackers — or something along those lines. If that has your name written all over it, then you’ll definitely get a kick out of mopping the floors in Goat Gamez’s cleaning gig.