Can 'House Flipper' Deliver On The Promise Of Home Ownership For Millenials?
Late last month, Xbox Gamespass released a very unexpected free game: House Flipper. While in the past, I have not been a big fan of simulator games. House Flipper won me over by giving me the one thing, as a Millennial, I truly want. The ability to own a home.
In all seriousness, House Flipper, at its core, is a game about buying properties and flipping them for a profit. You start with a small budget and your office, a shed converted into a living space. Eventually, you will have sold multiple properties while fixing up one or two simultaneously. After 75 hours, the gameplay loop is refreshing, and the available DLCs add a lot of mileage.
RELATED:
Gameplay
During the game's initial hours, you will take odd jobs from customers via your office computer to build enough funds to purchase a home to flip. The jobs can range from taking out the trash to redecorating or remodeling. The game starts to take off when you have complete control over a space when you finally buy the first home to flip. After that, anything is possible outside of removing exterior walls or adding a room, at least with the base game.
There is a variety of tools and processes to follow throughout a renovation. You may have to start by disposing of trash and cleaning the house. Afterward, you will find yourself moving to change paint or tiles, switching out bathroom fixtures, and even changing out lightbulbs if you are trying to keep costs down. Of course, all of these processes look different. For example, if I was to install a sink, I would have to install the requisite plumbing, then attach the water line to the sink, connect the drain, and so on.
The different tasks revolving around the remodeling process helps to keep the gameplay fun and varied. However, at times, it can feel a little repetitive. Luckily the Garden Flipper DLC, available for all platforms, adds a whole world outside to help distract you from that by adding way more to accomplish in building the perfect flip. All in all, after 75 hours, I still find myself wanting more. The game perfectly encapsulates what I loved about The Sims as a kid, decorating. And not having to attend to those pesky Sims and their needs lets me enjoy that aspect.
Graphics
While not a massive draw in this game, the graphics are about what you would expect from any simulator game. I will say that when I first booted the game up on my computer, I had to adjust the settings because I was experiencing screen tearing. However, after fixing the issue, I had no qualms about the game. It doesn't look breathtaking, but it isn't terrible either.
One thing I did like about the lack of graphical fidelity; is just how widely available that makes House Flipper. The focus on graphics in video games has long been pushing budget gamers out of the desktop market due to the pricing issues surrounding graphics cards. So it is refreshing to have an experience like House Flipper that could run on my old Geforce GTX 1080.
Story
While there isn't a bona fide narrative, there is the story that you reveal to yourself abstractly. Your taste and style bleed into House Flipper almost by design. After all, you are the one who is designing the houses. The game gets out of the player's way and lets them build what they want to see.
In that sense, the lack of a cohesive story isn't such a bad thing; instead, this allows you to put yourself into the game similar to an artist painting. I enjoyed just turning my brain off and playing the game. This game could be treated as an exercise in imagination, something I feel the industry needs a lot more of.
Pros And Cons
When I started this review, I was unsure if I would enjoy House Flipper, but the gameplay is very satisfying. I found that I had gone from being uncertain about the game to a fan by the time I was ready to write this review. The way the game immerses you in remodeling and negotiating home prices has kept me coming back for more, so much so that I did not mind dropping money on DLC. But, honestly, the biggest positive for the game is just how easy it is to sit down and play.
The only negative points I have are the DLCs themselves. If you play on Gamespass, either console or PC, you will find that there is only one of the multiple DLCs available for purchase. Frozen District, the game developer, has said they plan to launch the remaining DLC for the console soon. But with a sequel on the way, it seems to be too little too late for some players.
Verdict
House Flipper is a fun and engaging game that will keep players coming back to flip "just one more house" more than once. And while some features are locked behind DLC purchases, there is a plethora of work to be done before you consider buying them. Nevertheless, if you are looking for a low-stakes game to distract you for a few hours, I recommend giving House Flipper a shot.
Rating: 8/10
Developer: Frozen District; Publisher: Frozen District, Players: 1, Released: February 26, 2020; ESRB: E for Everyone; MSRP: $24.99
Review played on PC
READ NEXT:
