izigame.me

After just over 17 hours I have finished the main campaign of House Flipper 2 and now feel I can give a proper explanation of my experience.
All the way back in June during the demo something felt off, at the time I couldn't pin point it but now I think I can confidently say that it's because HF2 is a lonely game.
The opening cut-scene somehow has less life in it then the text box you're greeted with in HF1. The empty, messy, and abandoned house you wake up in sets the immediate tone, you are alone. Despite the sticky notes placed around from your mother and father stating that they love you and to call them, or the email saying that they're leaving the house to you after they move, it feels dead. The entire structure feels like it's been left behind and forgotten, furniture laying around as if it wasn't worth saving, more messes then you can count and trash just thrown about. It feels nothing like a home passed down to you by a loving parent.
The size of the house echos the emptiness all that much more. It feels all consuming and overwhelming, especially with nothing but a cleaning rag and a trash bag to your name.
On the contrary, the starting house in HF1 is much smaller only being 2 rooms. Because of this it feels perfect for learning all the basics and helps to really SEE your progress. Walking up to the new home set the scene of a new beginning not the tragic remembrance of a time past.
Back to HF2, your introduction to your first job will be through a phone call telling you to check your emails, a very similar set up to the base game of HF. But that's one of my pet peeves, the dev team has shown they know how to introduce a job well with the dlc introductions. While the first dlc was rocky it added before and after shots of EVERY build and later dlcs gave you a short walk through of the buildings while the client expresses what they want and help add a splash of life to the world with their unique personalities. I know they can make an immersive and fun world so why am I expected to tolerate these short phone calls that completely interrupt game play and add NOTHING to the jobs. All of the information they give you could have been given in the beginning before you start the job.
Once you make it to your first job you will be introduced to some new mechanics and the revamps of some old ones. If you haven't tried using your tools yet this is where you'll find out your trash bag fills and you will either throw it on the ground or have to stop what you're doing to take it out to a trash can. You will also see that they have done away with the broom/mop and hose in favor of a cloth and brush along with the new "flipper vision" skill that help highlight anything that needs to be done with the selected tool. As far as new mechanics go the first you'll be introduced to is, this games favorite task, unpacking. You will be doing a LOT of this. Most items will be small decorations, some of which connect together. When I first discovered this mechanic I found it charming, building your own train sets for example. However it quickly becomes an annoyance with all of the small pieces and the alignments not quite working in either grid or precise placement mode. This would work much better if the pieces snapped together.
While I do have a lot of complaints about this game I would be lying to say I don't enjoy some of the improvements. The obvious graphics are gorgeous, I would often find myself thinking I was still in a loading screen when starting a new job and the art shown to you is incredible, Tools also have some great improvements, I love the new painting system, wall building, and sledge hammer mechanics. While they took me a bit of time to get used to they've really grown on me. I think the idea of sharing your builds with other players is really cool and I've already enjoyed some custom jobs and just fun houses to mess around in. The cleaning is satisfying, despite my sadness at the loss of the window vacuum thing. And I can't forget about the flipper tools new abilities to copy and paste both full items and patterns. Speaking of, the new swatches are far more customization then HF1's, giving the player more freedom on even what material you want things to be made of.
But for every good thing theirs at least another bad one, the swatches are great but the games missing important furniture such as curtains and blinds, we may be able to access other players builds but the workshop and other mods are no where to be seen, the new paining mechanics are useful but why cant I set a parameter for tiles? The flipper tool copying items is incredible but I wish I could do the same with wallpapers and tiles. The list seems to grow the more I think about it, like why isn't there a console in this game? The little hidden touches in HF1 are part of what make it so memorable like turning my sledgehammer into a shotgun.
In conclusion, I can't recommend this game in the current state. For $40 it feels like you get less then HF1 gives you at half the price. The loneliness of the game keeps me from wanting to open it and it's still filled with minor annoying bugs and glitches.
I know a couple articles claimed HF2 was going to be multiplayer and I truly wish it was, it would not only solve the emptiness of the world but add a whole new layer onto the game giving it an extended life span.
With updates I may change my opinion but as of right now I almost have no interest in playing anymore of this game and will most likely be going back to HF1 whenever I get the itch to play again.