Game Review: House Flipper 2

By Nestor

Players: 1
Platforms: PC

House Flipper 2 brings cozy gaming to a whole other level. This sequel to the game that arguably kicked off an entire boom was a joy to play, and it's extremely easy to lose track of time when you're in the deep of things. I found myself playing for hours and hours one end without really thinking about it and enjoyed every moment of it. Now I'm going to try to relate some of what makes it great to you all.

The game begins with you moving back to your parents' home only to find out they have moved away and left you the house. Not quite the American Dream, but I'll definitely take it. This house is the perfect fixer-upper and is a blank canvas in which you can customize and turn into something of your very own. Every now and then your parents do check in on you by way of sending you emails, but these serve more to keep you posted on their lives instead of asking for their house back. There's more to the game than just fixing up your childhood home. Along the way you get recruited to help the community with their various DIY projects, and of course their homes. Some will ask for a simple cleaning, but others will have requests that go all the way up to massive renovations!

This is where the gameplay comes in. You have a range of tools and skills at your disposal to take care of all your community's needs. You can repaint to your hearts content, sell useless junk, move pesky walls and electrical wiring, expand homes, and change every detail right down to the literal kitchen sink. I found cleaning to be the most therapeutic experience, as there is something oddly satisfying that comes from cleaning a virtual space as opposed to one's real-life home. Collecting garbage in a bag, and making a place spotless, is something I'd balk at doing for strangers, but did so repeatedly here. Nearly everything is at your disposal, and you'll wish you had these type of tools for your own daily tasks. The ease at which you can convert a space is impressive. Can't stand a certain pattern on the wall? You can paint over it or replace it with different wallpaper. Don't like the way that wall is looking at you? Worry not! You can knock it down completely. There were so many options that I'd spent 45 minutes minimum just getting everything just right. It's hard to talk about it in writing, but it's really fun redoing a kitchen in a way I hope to do my own someday. If only my parents would leave me there house one day and fade off into the sunset.

As you progress through jobs in the main game, you unlock more customization tools. You also gain skill points that you can use on your different tool options for some decent upgrades. For example, the garbage option can be upgraded so you have a wider range of how much can be picked up at once, and the cleaning tool can be upgraded to wipe and clean at a much faster rate. There's lots more, and all of them make the game move much faster. This is a big plus as it can really change up how you experience the game. You can focus on a speedy clean up, better walls, or even building options. It's very RPG-like in execution, and the various different builds you can create make House Flipper 2 very replayable.

The people of the game's community have a lot of variety, and they each feel different in their own way. My favorite was a grandma who asks to renovate her attic for her grandson who is moving in. Which is ironically sort of the opposite scenario that brought us into the game in the first place. Along the way she tells you a story of how he loves to read, and that they are very close. This little touch of characterization made me feel happy to be fixing up her old attic. While just about all the characters were pretty memorable, some of them stick in one's head for all the wrong reasons. There was a particular mission where you must clean and reorganize a client's room due to a roommate leaving. The owner of the house kept making jokes about the roommate being odd and weird. I didn't know what I'd find in that room, but I was thinking all sorts of things that didn't come to pass. Eventually while cleaning the room you find that said roommate has a gaming PC you can sell, posters of anime, and lots of figures placed around. It felt a little stereotypical and could have been done in a different manner, but hey it's just a game, right?

The only flaw I could really find with this game is the lack of control when setting up knickknacks and objects on shelves in general. Placing things around can get tedious, and I found myself having to place and replace certain items over and over again to get them just right. On more than one occasion I wanted to quit and not even try to place any small decorations around the homes of the clients. This wasn't the most horrible thing, but it did sort of clash against the entire cozy atmosphere the game was building up. Also, the voice actors try their best to make the characters come alive, but at times some of the dialogue made things come off feeling a bit cheesy and overacted. While this was a bit distracting, it did add a certain charm all its own.

As one would expect in a game like this, the music is mellow and relaxing and adds to the easy to play nature of the game. The vibe of House Flipper 2 is one of relaxation, and overall just pure enjoyment. From start to finish it never felt like a chore to play, even though you're pretty much only doing chores the entire time. In short I loved the majority of everything I played and can't recommend it enough. It is well worth the play if you are looking for something to jump into, and want to have a nice relaxing time. As stated earlier you'll get lost for hours just trying new combinations of paint and decorations. Now I'm inspired to take a look at the state of my own room and change things up a bit, so thank you House Flipper 2 for the inspiration!

Check Out House Flipper 2 on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1190970/House_Flipper_2/

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Story: B
Gameplay: A
Graphics: B+
Music/Sound: A+
Value: A-

Overall: A

Pros:
+ A very chill game that is the epitome of a "cozy game".
+ Lots of different ways to tackle jobs, build your characters, and more make this highly replayable.
+ Great music, and sometimes silly voice acting, add to the overall atmosphere.
+ Some of the characters and jobs can be entertaining in their own right.

+/- Might inspire you to get some cleaning done on your own house!

Cons:
- Placing of some smaller objects, or even picking them up, can be annoying at times.
- Not all the characters and scenarios are memorable for the right reasons.
- Since you're basically just completing one chore after another, this might not be a game for everyone.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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#HF2