The original House Flipper was released more than five years ago on Steam, and was one of the most interesting success stories of that year. In theory, it should have been a flop: it was completely comprised of premade store assets, it was made on a tight budget by an unknown team, it had little to no pre-launch promotion, and it was glitchy as hell. Yet, against all odds, that game proved to be a hit thanks to its simple but relaxing gameplay loop: clean houses, fix them up, sell them for a profit. It was the kind of easygoing game that was perfect as a companion piece for a podcast, for example. A handful of (terrible) console ports followed a few years later, but a brand new sequel would only arrive in late 2023.

Here’s the tricky bit about House Flipper 2. The developers wouldn’t be able to get away with premade assets and jank once again. That was an excusable issue for your first title, when you were on a tight budget. Millions of dollars of profit later, that’s not acceptable anymore. House Flipper 2‘s assets would need to be original. The level of polish would need to be a lot more professional. A lot more work would need to be put into the sequel… something the folks at Empyrean ended up doing. They sure did their homework, as House Flipper 2 is leagues better than its predecessor.

Oddly enough, it is a vast improvement over the original House Flipper despite not being very different from it in terms of gameplay loop. You start off doing menial cleaning jobs for friends before you’re able to properly refurbish a house in its entirety (walls and all), and start off an oddly quick and lucrative real estate empire. In the meantime, you are also given a derelict house of your own, your old childhood home, and you’re given the chance to turn it into your brand new house, spending the money earned during your odd jobs. Giving me a small end goal, as simple as it was, was enough to make me focus ungodly amounts of hours doing these small missions. I wanted to treat myself to a brand new crib, with a level of detail and immersion no Sims game is able to replicate.

The more you play House Flipper 2, the quicker you “level up” (odd, I know), letting you clean surfaces in less time, or being able to shove in more garbage inside a bag. RPG elements in a house cleaning simulator weren’t in my 2023 gaming bingo, but here we are, folks. Further down the line, you are given the ability to demolish and set up walls, basically turning House Flipper 2 into a first-person The Sims.

And yes, the graphics are a lot better than the visuals seen in its predecessor. Those are actually brand new assets made by Empyrean themselves. Does this mean House Flipper 2 looks or feels realistic? Absolutely not. The visuals are just okay at best, and the physics are simplified, which is more than enough for a relaxing game like this. I do think that the item placement system is a bit wonky at times (it takes a while before you are able to properly place something where you actually want to), but there’s no denying that pretty much every single aspect of the game is a massive improvement over its predecessor. Even the sandbox mode, available right from the getgo, was a relaxing surprise.

I’m not going to say that House Flipper 2 is a masterpiece of any kind, but I do think that releasing this soothing and relaxing simulator at the end of the year, when we are all chilling at home without a care in the world, was a stroke of genius. Pick a derelict house, select a podcast of your preference, and proceed to waste countless hours of your day doing menial chores you despise doing in real life. At the end of the run, the feeling of delivering a completely clean and refurbished house, all while earning a lot of cash in the process, was enough to make me want to continue playing for yet another run. House Flipper 2 still has flaws, but it’s a massive improvement over its predecessor, and one of the most relaxing titles I’ve played in a while.

Graphics: 6.5 It doesn’t look like a bunch of premade assets purchased from an asset store like the original House Flipper, but it’s not exactly a great-looking game either. With that being said, it is still a noticeable improvement.	Gameplay: 7.5 Yep, this game was meant to be played with a mouse, keyboard, and wheel-based menus. The item placement is janky, and the realism isn’t exactly there, but it works. The gameplay loop is oddly relaxing, all things considered.
Sound: 6.0 It’s almost like the developers know you are going to play this game while listening to a podcast on the side. The soundtrack is soothing, but it’s quite forgettable.	Fun Factor: 8.0 It’s relaxing. The stakes are nonexistent, the pacing is just slow enough to let you play it as calmly as possible, and there is something about the feeling of cleaning and restoring a house that makes House Flipper 2 so oddly appealing. Not to mention being able to restore and refurbish your own personal crib.
Final Verdict: 7.5

House Flipper 2 is available now on PC.

Reviewed on Intel i7-12700H, 16GB RAM, RTX 3060 6GB.

A copy of House Flipper 2 was provided by the publisher.