Are you, like me, a connoisseur of simulation games? Do you like to flip houses, trade cards and power wash your way to renovated glory? If so, Sports: Renovations might be the game for you.
I was sent the demo for Sports: Renovations and happily jumped at the chance of another renovation game. I have played them all, from supermarkets and pet shelters to pubs and gas stations, there isn’t a real-world job that hasn’t been turned into a video game simulation at this point. So what sets Sports: Renovations apart from the rest?
Enter the Goatz Basketball team, the home stadium of your player character who is on a mission to renovate the stadium and save the city from more gentrification. There’s only one problem; you’re on a deadline and have no money to fund your renovations. Thankfully, you are as handy as you are determined and begin taking on renovation requests for the city.
Since I was playing the Sports: Renovations demo, I only had access to the first story mission, where you renovate an Irish boxing gym. While the introductory scenes were full cinematic cut-scenes, the rest of the story is told through hidden lore items and phone recordings which trigger while you work. There was also a Radio show hosted by “Kurt Reynolds Jr“.
These were pretty fun, and honestly, I did go hunting for the hidden lore once I saw they were added and counted in a collection. It’s a cute addition, and there were some cool items to find alongside the narrative. It’s also done in a way that didn’t overwhelm my experience or require me to stop what I was doing to answer conversation prompts. I also liked the style of the character avatars, and the voice acting was charming and engaging.
The tools of your trade are placed on an easy pop-up wheel which includes things like a demolition hammer, a power washer, and a paint roller. Switching between them was pretty easy and each tool worked intuitively, although I was given the highest grade tools for the demo so they did work faster and more efficiently than they would when starting the game proper. I wouldn’t say they are innovative tools that break the mould or anything, but they do the job and they do it well.
Visually, I was pleasantly surprised to see the quality of the models and textures. A lot of indie simulation games on the market rely on cheap asset packs to fill their maps, but nothing here felt overly familiar or out of place. I’m not sure if the purchasable items in the demo are all that will be available in the full game, but I had a few options for each piece of furniture I had to replace, plus a bunch more in the store.
Replacing the furniture items was a feature I appreciated in Sports: Renovations. Clicking an item and having a pop-up offer you different replacement options that just pop into place is a quality-of-life upgrade I didn’t know I needed but will look out for in the future.
Although I only played the one level, there were a few bonus mini-game mechanics thrown into the gameplay with more teased in the demo. One was a puzzle to get the fuse box working again and the other required you to build a boxing ring. This suggests there will be unique builds for different requests, and I’m interested to see what they come up with.
I played on PC with keyboard and mouse, but Sports: Renovations does have controller support. It also has a lot of accessibility options which I found rather extensive. I also made liberal use of the audio settings and turned off the tool noises as the power washer noise is something I don’t enjoy. I left the background music running, however, as it was suitably upbeat, yet ambient.
Sports: Renovations is certainly one I am going to keep an eye on. You can see where its inspirations lay, but a real effort has been made to create something new and engaging in a sea of asset-flip nightmares. If it ever comes to PlayStation, I’d surely set my sights on getting that platinum.
Platform: PC Demo
Release: 27th March 2025
Developer: Goat Gamez
Publisher: Dear Villagers
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