Intro
The game I played was “One Night, Hot Springs”. It’s a visual narrative that follows Haru, a transgender woman, on her trip to a hot spring with her friends. The game highlights the challenges transgender individuals in conservative society face. It was created by NPCKC, is playable for all ages, and is available on Steam.
While the game focuses on portraying marginalized experiences, it can further benefit from including more explicit feminist critiques and more intersectional perspectives.
Gameplay
When starting this game, I had no idea that the game was going to be about the experience of a transgender woman. I don’t find this out until later. Nonetheless, I think “One Night, Hot Springs” excels in its portrayal of a marginalized perspective, which aligns with Chess’s call for more diverse narratives in gaming.
For instance, Haru’s interaction with the staff (screenshot below) where she is politely addressed as “Miss Nagata,” reflects the game’s effort to portray respectful and inclusive interactions. Previously, this same woman had misgendered Haru, and she was corrected. Now, she made an effort to get her pronouns correct. I think this is important because the game shows an inclusive interaction, but also the challenges transgender people face with being misgendered.
(Staff interaction with Haru)
Another example is Erika’s statement, “Maybe. To be honest, I don’t really know, I don’t care much for labels” (screenshot below). I think this dialogue is important because it highlights on the complexities of identity and sexuality. This aligns with feminist discussions on the limitations of binary classifications.
(Erika and Haru having a conversation)
However, one critique I have that aligns with Chess’ work is that the game could expand its feminist critique by incorporating more intersectional perspectives. While it focuses on transgender issues, it could also focus on other aspects of Haru’s identity, like socioeconomic status or her Japanese identity. Including these dimensions could provide a more comprehensive representation of the complexities faced by transgender individuals.
(Haru’s check-in form)
There was a mention of her issues being a transgender woman in Japan, being unable to get married or get gender affirming surgery. Additionally, in the game she had to fill out this form and mark her legal gender, so I think putting more emphasis on these aspects of her identity could make for a more nuanced understanding of transgender experiences.
Additionally, Chess also argues for games to have player sbe able to experience diverse perspectives and have agency over their choices and have this reflect differnt experiences. The game does a good job at this, as we as the player can choose multiple options for differnt ways we can take the narrative. For instance, when I played I was able to achieve this ending (screenshot below).
But, others may able to achieve other endings, resulting in another distinct experience.
The game’s simple mechanics of simply clicking to go next or choosing one of 2 options, allow the player to focus on the narrative and reading the dialogue which is the most important in conveying the message of the game. The game also does not have any male characters and focuses on only a small instance of the experience of the main character and her female friends, allowing the game to include a lot of detail into the experience without spreading it out too thin.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I think that to play this game as a feminist, you have to engage and empathize with the challenges faced by Haru and critically reflect on how the portrayal of her experience also translates to real-life experiences. This game is similar to Life is Strange because it also explores LGBTQ+ themes, but this game offers a more intimate and focused narrative. “Life is strange” is much more complex and focuses on other aspects too like puzzle solving. Additionally, since this game is very short, about 15 minutes, as players we are engaged throughout without getting bored. In comparison to “Life is Strange”, which is pretty long like 2 hours and requires breaks in between.
Discussion Question
How can games like “One Night, Hot Springs” include more intersectional feminist perspectives?
