For this critical play I played One night Hot Springs. I played on steam but it is available for download as a python file on a few websites and also on Google play. It was developed by npckc for people 12 years or older as it touches on topics of drinking and anxiety. I also think this game is more for girls because of the aesthetics and theme, and its focus on women accepting and supporting other women. This game certainly focuses on topics of feminism by telling the story of a trans girl named Haru who struggles to feel comfortable in a public hot spring for her friend’s birthday. To me it seemed that the point of this game is to start conversations about how to communicate with trans people in a respectful way. There are many points of conflict where the player, as Haru, must choose her response to questions presented by her friend’s friend, Erica, and some workers at the hot springs. Usually, these responses are either Haru being too anxious to do something, or she tries something new. Overall, I think this game does a good job of communicating what it is like to be a trans woman in Japan by having the player step into that role. Showing the player rather than telling them creates an atmosphere of anxiety for the player if they are not trans themselves, and this cognitive disruption accomplishes a feminist perspective that not many games I have played have done before.
Firstly, I did not know what I was getting into when I ran the app. The first question though really struck me- Haru’s friend asks her to go to the hot springs, and you can either answer yes or no. I at first answered no, and the game just ended. I thought this was great from a feminist perspective. It really honed in this idea that in Haru’s life, the choices she makes could possibly “end” her story just like that. Perhaps the message being sent was that Haru cannot afford to have small nuances to her choices, yes is simply yes and no is simply no because she has no option to go into a choice they make half way. Maybe I am reading too much into that, but I thought that choice by the designers was very good and really made me reflect.
Next, I liked the dichotomy of each question selection.
As shown above, again, there is either the option to reply honestly or stay completely silent. This made me very frustrated. I wished there was more of a dramatic choice that could help me characterize the personality of Haru, but instead there were two extremes. This frustration I felt I believe was on purpose, and is very well done when thinking through a feminist lens. I felt like both of these paths would lead me to very different outcomes immediately, rather than let me explore more social nuance. I believe this was to just expose the reality of Haru’s situation- she has to deal with this black and white reality where she cannot experience these little nuances that I am so used to. I do not think other social choice games can really do this because they cater so much to drama and typical social norms that they want you to feel a little ambiguous about the choices you make- like you won’t know exactly what will happen once you make one. But in this game, the end of each choice is pretty obvious.
As explained in the reading, the fact that I had to play this story as a game is probably the only reason I was actually able to feel these frustrations. If I were just reading this as a story, I would not have to choose any outcomes, and I would not feel personally connected to Haru’s life as I did while assuming her role. Another thing mentioned in the reading is how feminist games do not follow the typical structure of “classic” video games, and I think this game does just that. As I explained before, yes there are choices that Haru must make, but they do not follow the typical nuanced pattern that other story telling/fate deciding games do.
Lastly, I just liked the narrative of this story and how it was kept short and sprinkled throughout. There was one portion in one play through where Haru just does a deep dive on what it is like to be a trans woman in Japan, which you actually don’t get in other play throughs.
I liked how these snippets were not very long, but explained a lot. I also liked how Haru would critique the way Erica talked to her once Erica agreed to learn. This game could definitely teach cisgender girls about how to use their words properly, and it does so without explicitly saying it is going to do that.
I do wish this game offered slightly more choices to make and maybe a little less text, but I understand that it is technically a short story and there are only so many outcomes that the designers could write endings for. I also do think the brevity is a strength in terms of engagement. If it was longer, perhaps I would not have played it more than once or twice through. All in all, I think this game does a good job of capturing feminist theories and helps the player learn a lot without being in their face.
