Hot Springs Story is a simulation game developed by Kairosoft. The theme is managing your own hot springs resort. It is more like a hotel simulation since you end up building so many more things other than just hot springs. It plays very similarly to other Kairosoft's games, so once you've played one before, it's very easy to pick up as the concept remains similar. You start off with a small piece of land with two hot springs and a few rooms already in place. Then you start getting guests, building up your popularity and expanding your resort.
You earn popularity through leveling up your guests. There are different target markets within the game such as students, businessmen and old couples. By creating attractions within your resort with high popularity and scenery, you can level up these guests' satisfaction. When they level up, you will eventually be able to unlock more target markets, the types that unlock can get quite left field such as pop stars, novelists and divas. You can place scenery items next to your rooms and attractions to boost up their stats, these items such as plants, trees and rock formations are key to increasing guest satisfaction. You have to balance between money making attractions with scenery in the limited space that you have. Eventually, you will be able to expand your resort with a bigger land piece.
Attractions include your rooms and hot springs, but you will eventually be able to unlock stuff such as karaoke rooms, massage chairs and arcades, to suit different target markets. These are what makes you your money. As each attraction will have a monthly upkeep cost, you need to ensure you have enough guest turnaround to support yourself. The game runs in months on a day/night cycle. Guests usually leave after one cycle but you can get them stay for two or three nights as you progress in the game, spending more money when they do. As guests level up, they also have more discretionary income to spend.
Money is very tight in the earlier parts of the game but like other Kairosoft games, you will have too much money towards the end, much more than you know what to do with. The game "ends" in the sixteenth year in which you obtain your high score and can start a New Game Plus with perks (a proportion of your stats carrying over, increased game speed etc). You can continue on playing as long as you like though and still keep unlocking stuff, you just won't get a high score anymore. There is the staple Pumpkin Shop which sells you items to use to increase your attraction's stats, they're very expensive though. Some items are crucial in developing your attractions as they can significantly boost some stats.
A nice touch is that every time you purchase a product, the prices goes up a little bit more, so you cannot break the game early on by buying all the good products. It also restocks from time to time to help space out your item usage. Of note is that Hot Springs Story isn't as addictive as it could be. While you still get into the mentality of playing for five more minutes, the rate of new things unlocking isn't quick enough to be a real carrot on a stick. The graphics are pixilated sprites, which definitely not tax your hardware. The game runs very smoothly as a result, with a repeating loop of music, which isn't too bad on the ears.
You can control the gameplay through intuitive touch controls (tapping wherever you want to select the item) or alternatively, use the virtual D-pad which makes selections much more accurate. The key enjoyment here is seeing all your guests running around by themselves enjoying your attractions, and it works well. Lastly, each half year you can enter into competitions to see how well you rate against "other" hot springs, to earn trophies and prizes (no online multiplayer component such as leaderboards, unfortunately). Overall, Hot Springs Story is another addicting simulation game from Kairosoft that while it is easy to pick up and play, actually has a lot of depth to it. You will keep finding new things about the gameplay and is well worth the money.
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