House Flipper 2 PS5 Review: Strong Foundations

I will probably never own a house, and I’ve made peace with that. But, if I ever found myself in a position to buy, House Flipper 2 would serve as a great tool to help design my space. It’s pretty flexible in what it offers in terms of virtual renovation. From the layout of each room, down to the orientation of the slats in the wood paneling. Much like its predecessor, House Flipper 2 is a cozy game that tasks players with the clean-up, decoration, and selling of various properties.

The game initially launched on PC in December, 2023. While PC fans have been mostly pleased with the offering, console players have been anxiously awaiting its release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. So we ran the house survey, scrutinized the wiring, and checked for mold. Turns out, it’s in pretty good nick, if you don't mind a few bugs. 

If you're curious how the game runs on Xbox, be sure to check out our additional review.

Recently Renovated

One great thing about the console version’s later release is that it arrives with all of the hotfixes and free updates that the PC version didn’t have at launch, including the Spring Update and Floor is Lava Update (more on that later). The PS5 version is the same as the PC, it just requires a little getting used to when it comes to controls. They don’t feel especially intuitive at first, but after enough renovations they’re hardly a hindrance. For context, I reviewed House Flipper 2 on the PlayStation 5, using the DualSense controller. Interestingly, the game doesn’t make use of the DualSense’s haptic feedback technology. It’s unfortunate, as it certainly seems suited to it. Knocking down walls and vacuuming up debris could all feel a lot more impactful if it leant on the power of the DualSense.

Despite this, the cycle of tasks that you’ll be completing in House Flipper 2 aren’t nearly as tedious as they felt in its predecessor. Everything seems like it’s been streamlined, from the building of walls to the collection of trash. I don’t feel like I’m doing housework and chores, and feel less guilty tidying up my in-game houses while my own rented flat remains in a state. That said, I still dislike cleaning windows in House Flipper 2 as much as I did in 1, but that’s just me. 

The game feels more forgiving in general, with care taken to protect players from making mistakes, such as painting over the wrong walls by forcing you to establish your boundaries before painting. You’re also given a little more guidance when you take on jobs. You can’t sell anything that you’re not supposed to. There’s no risk of ruining a job by accidentally selling a client’s TV set because you were too trigger happy. While this might cause some to feel like they’re a bit more on rails, it certainly takes the stress away for more casual players. 

With Convenient Access To Local Amenities

There’s some nice moments that give you a break away from all the manual labor, too. Thanks to the Floor is Lava Update, you’ll eventually be tasked with cleaning up a small games studio following a launch party for a new VR game — Floor is Lava. While fixing the space, you can interact with the VR headsets dotted around the studio to play a few levels of a minigame, affectionately based on playing ‘the floor is lava’. It was a nice surprise, and the reason this particular job took me 10x longer than usual to complete. 

House Flipper 2’s PS5 port isn’t without its problems, however. During my playthrough I encountered a few bugs. Nothing game breaking, and most were minor visual bugs when standing outside. But, there was one that left me stumped for an extended period of time. House Flipper 2 invites players to try out the ‘Assembly’ feature, essentially a training tutorial that teaches you how to assemble different items.

The first is a picture frame. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell you what the others are as my game bugged out in such a way during the Assembly that I couldn’t finish it. What’s worse is that there’s a timer for you to complete the project under a certain time as an optional completion bonus. No matter what I tried, I simply wasn’t able to interact with the required objects, and thus couldn’t complete the Assembly. The timer had overrun, and I had to exit the feature. I will never know how to build the perfect picture frame… Unless it’s patched of course, which it probably will be.

In truth though, minor bugs such as these rarely impacted our gameplay. Broadly speaking, House Flipper 2 is a great upgrade from the original, both in visuals and mechanics.