Kairosoft won a flurry of admirers with last year’s uber-addictive Game Dev Story, yet can lightning strike twice for the altogether more unusual Hot Springs Story?
Game Dev Story was one of our top apps of 2010, as the addictive video games development simulation cost us in the JOE team countless misplaced hours and late nights staring at the pixel-based time suck. Less than a year later and Japanese developers Kairosoft, hard at work at Game Dev Story 2, have released an unusual spin-off – asking players to run a hot springs and spa resort.
Hot Springs Story is an exceedingly Japanese release, featuring Pachinko amusement machines and a default Yen currency setting. Indeed, the entire concept of hot springs resorts is fairly uncommon to Westerners, having made only fleeting appearances in popular Japanese releases such as Hayou Miyazaki’s wonderful animation Spirited Away and SEGA’s Yakuza video game series. After Kairosoft’s expertise in turning unusual subject material into an addictive app, the question we had was whether or not lightning could strike twice.
Rather than running a games studio, Hot Springs puts you in charge of running a new local resort. Your goal is to build up a very meagre facility through continuous expansion, watching trends and paying attention to your customers needs.
While your journey begins with a tiny resort that boasts a couple of rooms and one spa, you’ll soon be adding ping pong tables, massage chairs and restaurants, while carefully placing each inclusion according to the whims of your targeted audiences. Placing a Pachinko machine next to a tranquil spa is just asking for complaints, for example.
Golden Week is when every single visitor attempts to urinate in your spa (probably untrue)
Building the perfect resort is not just about the positioning of your facilities, however, you’ll be looking to maintain the peaceful atmosphere of your resort by adding trees and other decorations, while you can raise funds by investing in local projects or pile money into targeted advertising.
The ultimate goal of your plush resort is to take the winner’s trophy in a list that compiled the best hot spring inns, which is published every six months. Your task is to ensure enough customer satisfaction from departing spa-goers and rise through the ranks to take the oversized trophy.
Lack of signposting
Considering hot springs inns are a subject we know almost nothing about, Hot Springs’ appeal lies purely in its unique Kairosoft visuals, charming art style and difficult to quantify, ‘unputdownable’ gameplay. Unlike Game Dev Story, however, Hot Springs suffers from a lack of signposting, as players are thrown in at the deep end without any tutorials or immediate tasks.
Another drawback is that unlike its predecessor, Hot Springs suffers a lack of personality. There is no need to hire or fire employees in bear costumes (at least I think it was a bear costume in Game Dev) and the thrill of a success or failure isn’t left to chance, as a game launch in Game Dev was.
Instead, Hot Springs reveals very little in its first hour that it doesn’t feature in its eventual 10+ hour lifespan, aside from some new facilities and requisite inn expansion. Thus, it’s tough to shake the general feeling that Hot Springs is a much more conventional management sim, one which only sparingly diverts into beloved Kairosoft fare.
Enjoyable and undoubtedly unique, Hot Springs Story may lack the addictiveness that won over an army of followers for its developers first effort, yet if you’re craving your next Kairosoft fix, you could certainly do a lot worse.
Hot Springs Story is available to download from the Apple App Store for €2.99.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
