For my critical play, I decided to play One Night, Hot Springs, a short visual novel on Steam developed by npckc about being a trans woman in Japan. Though aimed at all ages, the game is emphasized to contain content that some players might be sensitive to. As a visual novel, the game steps outside of the strength-focused masculinist norm that many video games follow, focusing instead on interpersonal narrative and emphasizing the power that a simple choice of words can have to shape people’s lives and experiences. It uplifts the traditionally feminine engagements of empathy and extending trust. The mechanic of multiple endings and the limitation of player choice to a few key moments of word choice work together to emphasize how such a simple decision can have significant consequences. This allows the game to work as a training ground for players to learn to express their own agency in similar situations, as described in the reading.
Indeed, despite the infrequency of the moments that players get to make decisions, those choices have great consequences. I ended up getting an ending two minutes into the game by simply opting out of going to the hot springs, admittedly mostly to see if the game would let me. While many games would force players to participate in the intended narrative, creating “false agency” as mentioned in the reading, this game allowed me to derail right away. Technically, it still constituted a false choice, as the option to opt out was presented for me by the developer, but the choice to include that option at all reflects the way this game uplifts player agency.
NORMAL END) LET’S TRY SOMETHING ELSE
My second playthrough reached a proper ending, and allowed me to properly experience the power of representation. Feminist themes and so forth are all very well, but it’s far too easy to underestimate the value of being able to actually relate to the struggles of a protagonist. I spent much of my life not caring particularly much about representation, until I read one story that made me realize that I simply hadn’t related to the protagonists of any media I had ever consumed. It says something deeply unfortunate about the state of our games, and media as a whole, that it’s possible for a young enby to live twenty years of life without finding a character they can relate to. This game’s protagonist, at least, had some struggles I found familiar, which certainly elevated the impact the game had on me. I was physically tense for my entire second playthrough, moreso than I have been while playing some games that on paper should be far higher intensity. The shame and fear of bathing in public as a trans person is nothing I’m a stranger to, and seeing things work out well for Haru allowed me to hope that, as the name of the ending put it, “the world can be kind too.”
ERIKA END 2) THE WORLD CAN BE KIND TOO
