To play like a feminist, I played the game One Night, Hot Springs. An indie game released in 2018, One Night, Hot Springs is published by npckc. It’s a visual novel game where players follow a young transgender woman, Haru, on a trip with friends to the hot springs in Japan. Thanks to its visual novel format, it allows for a breadth of discussion regarding the issues that transgender women face in Japan, as players are able to achieve multiple endings and learn about different experiences. As such, the game itself can be viewed as sensitive, especially when considering the more conservative cultural context in which the game takes place in (it’s also something the game recognizes). To play like a feminist here, means to open Pandora’s box on the social and cultural stigma of being a transgender woman, as well as to clearly lineate the difficulties that transgender women encounter.
The game opens with Haru, our main protagonist, in bed, receiving a call from her best friend Manami. It’s Manami’s 20th birthday and she urges Haru to visit the hot springs with her and another close friend (whom Haru has never met).
Through the course of the game, we encounter Haru’s struggle of taking space in society as a transwoman as it is yet to be aptly socially accepted in Japan. This comes in the form of Haru hesitating to even attend the Hot Springs with Manami, hints at Haru staying home all day and rarely going out, and most apparent of all, her dilemma with using the woman’s bath at the Hot Springs. While she feels that it is “right”, she also understands that it’s yet to be socially accepted and thus doesn’t want to disturb others. Quite literally it asks the player to not only question Haru’s place as a transwoman in the women’s bath, but also transwomen’s (and by extension women’s as well) place in video games. As the article has pointed out, video games have long been catered towards a dominant male demographic. Yet, as of now where the gender split isn’t so divisive on who plays and doesn’t play video games, where exactly does this intersectional identity land? Just as Haru feels out of place because she believes as a transwoman it isn’t socially acceptable to attend a women’s bath, many women feel out of place talking and discussing video games, because again, the culture has yet to fully accept women into the space.
Where this game excels the most is with how informative it is. Manami’s other friend, Erika, at times, serves as a self insert for the player. Erika is Manami’s high school friend and is ignorant of Haru’s identity. In this sense, the game allows the player to be taught about the difficulties and preferences of transwomen as Haru teaches Erika these things. In this sense, the game is able to achieve its goals of informing the player, using video games as an artful medium to deliver strong messages.
However, because of this informative nature, and the visual novel style, it’s not very “gamey”, in the sense that the game mechanics fail to amplify the message in any way. It’s simple and serviceable, and the message is a little too on the nose, or too forced down the player. In this same sense, another critique of fulfilling a feminist lens, the game centers only on one story. With this, it can fall into a trap of the story encapsulating a monolith for the entire trans-experience, where in reality, these experiences are far more nuanced. Here, we only get to play as Haru and while there are multiple endings, it’s still a monocular experience. To this I also pitch the more extended version of “A Year of Hot Springs” where players are able to play as all three women, Haru, Manami and Erika. With this cut of the game, players would be able to better understand the intricate relationships, especially when looking through it from a feminist lens.
Lastly, some of the coolest things that this game does to build the small, yet great world of One Night, Hot Springs is in the little details. For example, when checking into the Hot Springs, Haru has to use her legal name (Haruto) and check her legal gender (male). This later comes up in a conversation between Haru and Erika about Japan’s formal legalities regarding proper identification as a trans individual (and to a smaller extent, same-sex marriage). The (minimal) supporting cast of the staff lady who was very accommodating of Haru’s situation was also a great highlight.
While the game explored themes of feminism and the place of trans individuals, it’s also centered on Haru’s own self-confidence and inner journey. One of the endings reveals to Haru how kind the world can also be to her. This interconnected thread of the narrative was perhaps one of the most satisfying parts of the story, serving as a reminder that to be a feminist also means to humanize.
