Xbox Review | House Flipper 2

“You get to go all out and use whatever you can afford to liven up the place… Or make it a reclusive paradise, all dark and gloomy. It’s entirely your choice!”

It’s time to get those cleaning supplies, obtain your DIY supplies, look through those furniture catalogues and get renovating! Yes, Frozen District is back, giving us a sequel to House Flipper which has been astoundingly called – wait for it – House Flipper 2. Original, I like it. However, saying this, House Flipper 2 varies quite differently from the first but still comes with the original concept the majority of us (me included) adored which involves receiving jobs for run-down houses and making them habitable again. There is a system in place to make sure nothing is missed – whether you’ve missed a spot when cleaning, need to buy more furniture, or have a finish that needs applying – the game aims to inform you, making sure you do the best job possible and are rightfully paid in return for your efforts. Now, let’s delve into all the nitty gritty parts of House Flipper 2!

Plenty of colours and materials to suit any room or mood you want to achieve!

Things I liked!

• Customisation choices | Colour palettes, finishing materials, small details – The different combinations you can create with the wide variety of customisation available are incredible and allow for mass amounts of creativity. Being able to have variations of colours for patterns on various furniture and finishes means you can be even more creative than before to get the look which suits you best, rather than having to stick to what the game gives you. Even if you want the same pattern throughout the property, you can use the flipper tool to copy and paste that beloved look onto other pieces so you get the colour perfectly matched. With tiles and wallpaper, you can choose rotational properties, the pattern itself and how large you want the pattern to be. I think the developers have done a stunning job with the customisation and I want to see even more added, if and when possible.

• Gratifying audio | I’ll be the first to admit I don’t listen to the music when it comes to house flipper or any of the sound effects as I usually have my own playlist/music on while renovating houses. However, for review purposes, I did play without my music while working my way through the main campaign and I was relatively impressed. The soundtrack has a chill yet cheery feeling to it that creates a nice atmosphere to work with. The voice acting was acceptable and it was nice to have small natters with your client while on the job. The sound effects are accurate and convey the necessary audio you would expect to hear from breaking down walls, cleaning windows and painting. However, I will say that the audio for wallpapering and laying flooring was either looked over or not given a second thought. Either way, the audio is solid other than the little hiccup I just mentioned.

• Buy, renovate, and sell | The best part of the game for me is buying houses and doing almost anything you want to them. You get to go all out and use whatever you can afford to liven up the place… Or make it a reclusive paradise, all dark and gloomy. It’s entirely your choice! Expand or add rooms, create an open-plan studio, make it a Barbie Girl paradise – You get the point. With each house, you can either sell them to a potential buyer for a profit or move into them yourself if you grow attached to your design. It’s the only real content the game offers after you’ve completed the story jobs so it keeps the game alive. 

• Before and after images | A new feature added to House Flipper 2 is the before and after images the game takes for you of particular rooms and angles after completing a job. You can skip these if you’re not interested but I think it’s a nice addition which allows you to appreciate the work you’ve done and how much better you’ve made the property look. It’s not something I’ve ever thought of but I know many people in real life take pictures to mark their progress and see how far they have come from where they started. These meant more to me when I decorated and furnished my own houses as it was all about my vision and seeing everything I had accomplished. A nice touch – great if you want to take some screenshots or a little video!

• Detailed visuals | There is a clear change in the quality of the visuals in multiple ways in House Flipper 2. From the environment outside to little accessories you can place around the house, it’s easy to see the improvements. The outlines of everything look sharper and the materials are distinguishable. I thought it was great looking at the games available for the ‘FS7’ like First Fiction XVII and Frog Traffic (those had me giggling) and the little notes you can read dotted around added a nice touch. I don’t know if it’s just me but I did find changing the field of view changed my perspective (well, obviously) on how good the game looked – having it at the highest possible just looked off for me so I lowered back closer to the base level.

• Future content? | At the end of the main story of House Flipper 2, it was teased that more jobs would be available in the future. This instantly got me excited for additional content and perhaps DLC to become available in future updates. It means that what I have experienced so far isn’t all there will be to offer and that makes me aware that I will most likely be returning to the game even once I have completed all the achievements. Although you can house flip to your heart’s content which gives the game its replayability value, having the developers tell us there will be more will have everyone keeping their eyes open for those all-new sparkly additions. I mean, the first House Flipper got multiple DLC packs – there is no reason House Flipper 2 shouldn’t get the same love and attention. Hint hint, nudge nudge.

My first solo project and the bedroom I made. Using green and nature as my inspiration.

Neither good nor bad

• Usage of tools | As you would expect with renovating, there are numerous tools which need to be used, and although it’s not as realistic as some people may want, you do need to select the correct one for the task at hand. The painting and surface finishing tools have been changed from the first game and are worse in my opinion. You have to manually paint smaller areas and place finishes in smaller sections too instead of choosing the entire floor area or doing multiple walls at a time which is a hindrance. The flipper tool has some impressive features as you can now duplicate items, change the colour of those you’ve already placed, and copy patterns and/or colours! Hallelujah! Building and demolishing walls is more time-consuming but still feels relatively enjoyable so I’m ok with this. Collecting trash, cleaning and vacuuming all feel similar to the first game, if not better. Finally, there is a wiring tool which sounded intriguing but complicated. Much to my dissatisfaction, this was nowhere to be seen in the main game and has been added more as an ‘If you want to do wiring, here you go’ option so there’s that! The tools have their positives and negatives but they all worked as intended.

• Sandbox mode | If you want an open plot and the ability to start from scratch, the sandbox mode which has been included in House Flipper 2 will be exactly what you’re looking for. You can even create new jobs for people, adding quests and objectives to complete if you want, but this didn’t appeal to me. Oddly, it felt like I was playing The Sims but with a more in-depth and complex system in place which wasn’t necessarily bad but I just couldn’t get the hang of all the different features. I feel like with the properties you can buy and sell, that’s enough for me to use as a starting point as it gives you a template to work with; hey, if you want to knock down a few walls and extend rooms then you can! I doubt I will be playing much in sandbox mode but I’m sure many will appreciate the addition. 

• Overall performance | In a nutshell, the performance of House Flipper was good – not to be mistaken for perfect. The frame rate was decent 90% of the time but did occasionally drop for a short time. When moving, House Flipper 2 felt smooth but possibly not as smooth as it could be? My game never crashed or had any loading issues which was fantastic. The functioning of tools felt a little more to be desired with the paintbrush often getting stuck on edges more frequently than I would have liked; other tools generally felt much more fluid. Overall, there were a few elements that could have been optimised better but there were no major complaints from me.

• Furnishings availability | When it came to buying, renovating and selling my purchased properties, I was quite disappointed with the availability of furnishings in particular areas. When you go through the main story, everything is picked out for you but when I got left to my own devices – it felt kind of ‘meh’. Hanging pictures, rugs and curtains to name a few were just not up to scratch. There weren’t even any blinds available and the curtains have to be purchased open or closed, leaving you unable to do the opposite once purchased! There needs to be some additions and changes made to the game regarding its furnishing options because it currently lacks some character and variety for those who enjoy designing every little small detail they can.

Looks like a job for my trusty cleaning supplies and interior design prowess! Don’t worry Margaret – We’ll get your grandson’s room done in no time.

Things I disliked!

• Unpacking | Now I don’t know how others interpret ‘House Flipping’ but one thing I didn’t believe would be in my job description was unpacking people’s possessions. House Flipper for me is all about getting the house clean, professionally finished and buying suitable furniture/furnishings if my client asks me to. It surely shouldn’t involve unpacking someone’s belongings – that is what the movers and/or clients are liable for. It didn’t feel necessary to have this component added to the game; I would have rather spent more time sourcing items myself or decorating more intricately. If I wanted to unpack furniture, I would play Unpacking… House Flipper is all about how you can turn a house into a home and, although furnishings do this, it just doesn’t suit the game concept in my opinion.

• Assembly challenges | An interesting addition House Flipper 2 has implemented is an assembly section of the game which has you assembling different furniture with challenges to complete too. These consist of finishing the assembly, doing it to a good/perfect standard and completing everything in a specific time. Although I liked the idea to begin with, it didn’t take me long to get fed up with the idea of it. It also hasn’t been implicated in the main gameplay which I’m secretly pretty happy about other than giving you a discount if you complete them with three stars. I admire that the developers have tried something different but honestly? Stick to the tried and tested game people enjoyed to begin with. We don’t always need something more – just new and updated. Oh, and where is the assembly we had from House Flipper? The plumbing, screwing parts together, fitting pipes etc… Not a great move.

• Doesn’t compare to the first | When I played the first House Flipper, there was a sense of accomplishment; satisfaction, precision, personalisation and enjoyment. Now, although the second game still has these feelings, they weren’t anywhere near as strong for me. The game just fell flat a little and didn’t have the wow factor of the first game. This may partially be due to the first game having multiple DLC packs, which I understand may come in time with the second game, but even when I played without any of the extra content, the original House Flipper just came out on top. Maybe if and when there are any future updates and content, this may change but as it stands, I would rather play the first.

How long did I play the review before publishing? Around 20 Hours
How long to beat the story? Approximately 10 Hours
How many Achievements did I earn before publishing? 27/36 OR 710/1000G
How long to achieve 1000G | Approximately 20-30 Hours
You’ll love this game if you like these | House Flipper, Train Station Renovation