You can see why the original House Flipper was such a hit. Its cosy fantasy of home ownership and fulfilling work was a soothing balm after a miserable day at the office, and that fantasy is only strengthened in this sequel. The basics remain the same: jobs appear in your email, from cleaning tasks to full-on home renovation, and you can use the profits to buy properties from the auction house, ready to be glowed up and flipped for a profit.
Accept a job and you’ll appear outside the house with your bag of tools. Bin bags to collect the rubbish, one measly cloth to wipe down the surfaces, a roller for painting, and so on. I haven’t played the previous game, but the interface for managing these tools seems neater and easier to grasp here. It’s no longer mimicking an in-game tablet, so menu icons are free to be a little more gamey: larger and more colourful, easier to identify at a glance.
Straddling simulation and more casual play – which is really the whole ethos behind House Flipper – these actions mimic real life, to an extent. When building a brick wall, you watch a lovely animation play, but all you’re doing is holding the mouse button down, as your character plucks bricks and mortar from thin air. Mostly, I’m happy with this middle ground – smashing walls down with the sledgehammer feels particularly satisfying – but I’d feel more connected to the work if I also had to clean up the rubble.