House Flipper 2 [PlayStation 5] | REVIEW

I reviewed House Flipper 2 for Use a Potion back when it launched on PC late last year, stating that:

“House Flipper 2 doesn’t reinvent the formula of the first game, but still offers enough new ideas and refinements to make it even better to play than before. You can go all out on the building and renovation work to make plenty of money, or you can take it at your own peaceful pace – House Flipper 2 offers something for everyone, whilst the expanded building tools and intuitive sandbox mean you have more freedom than ever to showcase your creativity and share your creations with other players.”

So yeah, I was a pretty big fan of the game. With it now available on consoles, I spent some time with the PlayStation 5 release to see how it holds up with a controller in hand. And you know what? It’s just as fun and addictive to play.

Check out some screenshots down below:

For the uninitiated, House Flipper 2 revolves around renovating properties to make some money. Sometimes, this will be in houses that you’ve purchased to sell, whilst other times, it’ll be when doing work for a customer – either way, there’s a lot of DIY taking place, with players smashing down walls, cleaning up filth, installing different facilities, wiring electronics, painting and decorating, and ensuring each house is kitted out with the adequate furniture to add to its overall value.

It’s REALLY good too, with House Flipper 2 improving on the original game in just about every way. However, this review primarily focuses on how it feels to play on console. If you want to know more about the gameplay or how much of an improvement is made over the previous game, you can check out my initial review on PC here.

“It’s great to see that an extra effort has been made to ensure the ports of House Flipper 2 maintain a high standard that doesn’t feel inferior to its PC counterpart.”

The biggest issue that typically comes with console releases of simulation titles like this are the controls, but I’m happy to report that House Flipper 2 plays really well on a controller. The shoulder and face buttons ensure that using your tools or accessing menus is fluid and accessible, whilst using the right stick to line up your actions is competently implemented… well… for the most part. It did feel a little fiddly at first, but after toying with the controller sensitivity settings, I found a sweet spot that worked for me. Whilst I’ll happily admit that I prefer playing with a mouse and keyboard, the controls are intuitively mapped to ensure that console gamers won’t feel inhibited when completing their DIY tasks.

It looks and plays really well on the PlayStation 5 too, with the move to a more vibrant and charming aesthetic ensure the visuals really stand out. I haven’t suffered any performance issues either, with the game playing at a steady 60fps that keeps the action smooth and satisfying. I actually played the original game on console and suffered through a lot of performance issues, so it’s great to see that an extra effort has been made to ensure the ports of House Flipper 2 maintain a high standard that doesn’t feel inferior to its PC counterpart.

Check out some screenshots down below:

Wanna know something cool? House Flipper 2 has launched on consoles with the recent ‘Floor is Lava’ update, meaning players can complete an array of challenges where they pounce between objects in the environment as a means to avoid the overflowing lava. It’s silly and offers a complete change of pace to the standard House Flipper 2 experience, but it’s also a lot of fun and adds a comical diversion to the core experience. It’s clear that the developers aren’t going to slow down on adding content to the game, so I’m excited to see what comes next.

House Flipper 2 just feels great to play on console, with every official piece of content and update from the PC version also making its way over to this release. It’s fantastic to see this level of support so soon, especially since there was a two-year wait for console release of the first game. Most importantly, though? The game is a blast to play, with it not only improving upon the original game in every way but also setting a high standard for what players should expect from the simulation genre going forward. I’ve already poured tens of hours into the PC release, and I think it’s going to be the same on my PlayStation 5.

Developer: Frozen District, Emypread
Publisher: Frozen District, PlayWay
Platform(s): PlayStation 5 (Reviewed), Xbox Series X|S, PC
Website: https://houseflipper2.com/