Garden Flipper brings all the House Flippers to the yard

As someone who has rolled lawns, built decking, knocked down old conservatories and more, I cannot think of few things I’d rather simulate less than the contents of Garden Flipper. Released today, it’s the first major expansion for House Flipper, Empyrean’s game of cleaning up other people’s messes and ordering shedloads of virtual Ikea furniture to conceal interior design sins. As the title might suggest, this one is about all things outdoors. Mow lawns, install garden furniture, plant flowers and generally act like you’re part of the Gardener’s World B-team. See the trailer below.

I may grumble (I’ve done too much gardening already), but it looks like a feature-packed expansion. There’s seventeen gardens to renovate and eight game systems, which you can see showcased below. Credit where due they’ve replicated a whole mess of gardening-related challenges, from shovelling gravel, digging holes, mowing and strimming with a variety of tools and assembling piles of garden furniture. Developers Empyrean boast that there’s over five hundred new items, many with variants, and more than two hundred and fifty plant types. Good for the green-fingered then.

As with the original game, it seems that there’s some teething troubles with this expansion. Initial Steam user reviews bring up a lot of small bugs that add up to a messy whole. Trees unable to be removed, missions not completing properly, and a few cases of people getting stuck horribly inside the foliage they just planted. While that last point is arguably realistic and why we should outlaw plants, gardens and people who enjoy mucking around outdoors, it probably doesn’t make for a great expansion. Still, a lot of interesting stuff, but perhaps best off waiting for a patch and/or discount.

The Garden Flipper DLC is out now on Steam for £10.25/€11.24/$13.49, or fractionally cheaper in a bundle with the main game. It’s published by Frozen District & PlayWay