Once items are out there in the room you simply drag and drop them into place, and the interface is smart enough to make moving objects around the walls easy or placing decorative artefacts on top of furniture a cinch. You pick through your catalogue to find wall and floor coverings, then explore it further to pull out beds, tables, chairs, cupboards, soft furnishings and miscellaneous items. In the early missions you’re presented with a house with one or two rooms and each client leaves some object or piece of furniture that should clue you in on what they’re looking for. A spin-off from Nintendo’s rather surreal country-living sim, it puts you in the shoes of an employee of Nook’s Homes, taking briefs from a range of Animal Crossing residents, then making them the home (and sometimes garden) of their dreams. The Sims just about qualifies, but Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer is the real deal. There are not many games, however, where you play an interior designer.

There are many games where you’re a special forces operative, a globe-trotting adventurer or superhero, and a few where you’re a detective, city planner, criminal mastermind or scientist.

Home designer pro reviews