Remasters of a game are like a box of chocolates; you don’t really know what you’re getting half the time. Some games are lazy cash grabs that use what upscaling tech that’s on hand to justify reselling the same game all over again. And then some go above and beyond, delivering an experience that’s well worth a revisit. I am glad to state that House Flipper Remastered leans closer to the latter than the former, even if the experience sticks a little too closely to the original in some regards.
House Flipper Remastered Collection is a bundled collection of all the DLC for House Flipper 1, plus some new content. The remaster is said to come with better graphics, voice acting, and UI improvements. This will be what the bulk of this review is mostly focused on. Though I will go through basic gameplay briefly for the sake of newer players who might be interested in picking up this title. From everything I’ve experienced so far, it’s looking like a worthy addition to anyone’s library of simulator games.
By its definition, House Flipper is a game that allows you to buy and renovate houses with the intent of selling them for profit down the line. At least that’s what you’re supposed to do as an overall objective. You actually have to first earn enough seed money by taking on various renovation jobs from clients around the county. It is during these jobs that you will also learn the tools of the trade, hopefully not subjecting you to information overload. However, the Remastered Collection has the option for you to go into buying and selling property with every tool already unlocked, much like every show on HGTV. However, having all the tools at your disposal doesn’t make you a Property Brother overnight; you also need to know how to keep a tight budget and know when you shouldn’t overcommit to a passion project.
Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter if you enjoy taking jobs from clients or going directly into the Sandbox and building a house-flipping empire from scratch; House Flipper has some of the most satisfying gameplay in the whole simulator genre, and that appears to be unchanged in the Remastered Collection.
Every playthrough starts your character at the shack. It is the same starting point since the game first released, and it does have some nostalgia for players like me who haven’t played House Flipper 1 in many years. In essence, the shack is your testing ground for all the skills you need to fix up houses. It’s by no means a clean place. Given enough TLC, you might have something you can look fondly back upon.
The biggest criticism of House Flipper 1 at launch was the lack of content. When the base game first released, you could literally learn everything there is to learn about the game in less than a couple of hours, and the rest of your time would be spent doing the same repetitive actions until you ultimately get bored and leave. Of course, that is no longer the case since there have been a myriad of DLCs released since then. However, that would require you to download additional content without knowing if it’s going to be good or not. The Remastered Collection solves this problem by bundling all DLCs together in one neat, yet massive package. The collection includes one additional heartfelt DLC that doubles as the ultimate test of your house flipping skills. Additionally, completing jobs from the new locations unlocks that property on the market. That means that the rich guy’s yacht you just finished cleaning after a whole night’s worth of partying can be yours to do with as you wish.
Whatever complaints I might have had back in the day are long gone, as no longer restricted to simply home renovation. Animal care, cooking, and gardening have truly turned this game into somewhat of a life sim. It still lacks the friction that makes most activities in life sims worth the time commitment, but for the casual player who wants to see the immediate results of their creative minds, you will find that this game has pretty much everything you need. As for me, I’ll stick to renovating houses and restoring items to their former glory.
In the original game, your character got jobs via e-mail, and you could read each one of them before starting a job, before loading into the level. But that’s no longer the case in the Remastered Collection. A “Map of Jobs” application has replaced e-mails entirely, and now you get to choose from dozens of jobs around the county. The new changes also involve a revamped storyline, complete with full voice acting during the intro and sometimes in the middle of a job. It’s a small change in the grand scheme of things, but if it motivates you to do a better job, then I say it’s a worthwhile addition. In my case, I started to do more missions than I intended in one session, especially because I was curious about the clients and their situation. This wouldn’t have happened if I were still stuck reading emails before jobs.
As much as I like the remastered collection, I can’t overlook the fact that the game requires manual adjustments to most of its visual settings. I am not a fan of this in the slightest. It’s one thing for me as a player wanting a game to squeeze out every last bit of performance my GPU is capable of for a graphically intense and it’s a completely different thing when I need to fiddle around with the settings just to make the visuals consistent. By most standards, it is a small issue that affects a very small part of the player base, but the fact that we even need to tinker around with the settings should warrant a closer look by the developers.
Another issue I have revolves around the progression in the game. Quite frankly, it’s all over the place. It is most likely due to a desire to remove all barriers to entry for the DLC locations, something I greatly appreciate as a returning player. For a new player, however, the experience can become uneven in some places. Your first set of jobs is located in North Levyville. Once you’ve completed those couple of missions, the entire map suddenly opens up to you. Again, not an issue if you’re already knowledgeable with the mechanics. But imagine going straight to Flipperburg or Heart Valley without the proper onboard and instantly getting a heavy dose of information overload. At that point, you might as well go into Sandbox and start to get familiar with all the tools first before tackling any of the DLC levels.
And lastly, not having a sound effect on the mop/broom is kind of annoying. I know it’s a pet peeve that ultimately doesn’t need to be fixed. But hear me out. Imagine if the hand vacuum’s motor didn’t produce such a loud sound every time you clean a window. That’s what I’m thinking every time I pull out the mop. In fairness to the game, if my pet peeve made it onto this review, it’s a safe bet that the game doesn’t have any huge issues worth talking about.
If I’m being frank, I didn’t notice much improvement on the visual side. Sure, there are noticeable things like more detailed textures and sun shafts adding a level of detail not present in the base game. Everything just looks as plain as it did back then. Maybe I’m just so used to seeing them in their “raw” forms, but maybe the developers didn’t want to move too far away from the game’s visual identity. A lesson Supermarket Simulator ought to have learned. At least the cleaned UI puts all the critical stuff in plain sight while removing some unneeded menus.
As for the soundtrack, it sounds just as calm and relaxing as it did back then. There may be some new additions thanks to the DLC levels. I don’t think there’s much to worry about whether or not any tracks could potentially spoil the mood. At least that’s my hope.
House Flipper Remastered Collection is the House Flipper series in its best form. It gives the player instant access to content that increases playtime and overall enjoyment many times over. It’s still not a game for everyone, however. The core gameplay never strays too far from the niche experience it promises, even with the addition of other life sim elements like gardening, cooking, and animal care. That’s probably for the best. A game that tries to appeal to everyone ultimately doesn’t appeal to anyone. If you are a fan of the base game and don’t feel like spending money on the DLCs, you have every reason to pick up this game. The same goes for newcomers wanting a well-established, cozy experience. I have a feeling that this too might be in your alley.
