Handyman 'em up House Flipper released
No you do it yourself
The thrills, chills, and plaster fills of DIY have come to PC today in House Flipper. The daddification of video games not quite being at the point where we get games about dads replacing fuses or painting the nursery, House Flipper puts a small business spin on DIY by having us renovate and fix-up houses for clients or so we can sell 'em on for big bucks. Knock through walls! Plaster! Paint! Rewire! Refit! Renovate! Tidy! Make your fortune! As a Viscera Cleanup Detail esports professional, I am delighted by the idea - though I can't help but wish this first-person handymaner were multiplayer and a bit more dynamic.
So! We've set up as a handyman. At first, we do tasks for clients--repair this, repaint that--but eventually save up enough to start buying homes to renovate and resell. There are many potential tasks to do, though sadly a lot of them come down to holding a mouse button in the right spot.
To fit a radiator, drop it in place then hold the mouse to tighten nuts. To paint, hold the mouse button while a roller fills in a pre-defined strip of wall. To mop muck, aim and hold the mouse button until it's gone. To pick up rubbish, click and it'll instantly vanish. It largely continues in the same way, though I do enjoy clicking and dragging a squeegee to clean streaks across windows.
To be clear, House Flipper doesn't have the physics and particle-driven nonsense that makes Viscera Cleanup such a wonderful comedy of errors. Walk into a pot of paint and you won't kick it over or leaving painty footprints. Nothing is lobbed with ha-ha-hilarious consequences.
I've played through a few House Flipper jobs and yeah, it doesn't quite hit the same spot for me. But I shouldn't expect it to be the same. It does let you repair and renovate homes, ticking off tasks and leaving them fancier and cleaner than before, and that's still quite nice. And I suppose you could have a lark making horrible houses.
House Flippers is out now on Steam for £13.94/€15.11/$17.99, a price which includes a 10% launch discount. It's developed by Empyrean together with Car Mechanic Simulator devs Red Dot Games, and published by PlayWay and Frozen District.