One Night, Hot Springs is a visual novel game where we take the character of Haru, a 19-year old transgender woman who is accessing a hot spring in Japan. Haru's friend, Manami, is turning 20, and invites Haru to go for a trip to a hot springs resort.
This is tricky for Haru as hot springs are separated by gender, and Haru is legally male but lives as a female. The choices are mainly asking for Haru to (1) be open and outspoken about her thoughts and identity, or (2) suffer in social anxiety issues.
As we play the game, we experience more of Haru's thoughts and emotions, which could be a extrapolation of how someone who is transgender might feel. To me, this is a very interesting POV for a game and it made me feel a bit more understanding and empathic but I'm not too sure if it is 100% true, so please take what you learnt in the app with a pinch of salt!
This game is on PC (Windows, Mac OS, and Linux) and Android.
When you play the game, you can decide if you want to turn hints on or off at the start of the game. If you choose to turn on hints, you will see black hearts at the top left corner of the page. The number of hearts depend on the decisions you make, and it affects the endings you get. There are 7 endings in total, but you can pass the text quickly by clicking on the ">>" button when you try again, or just save the game in a separate save file and reload from there!
To make things easier to understand, I drew a timeline of the 7 different endings and how to get there:
Endings
1. Normal ending: Let's try something else
- Turning point 1
- "Sorry.. I just..."
2. Bad ending: Hot springs are not okay
- Turning point 1
- "If they have reserved baths."
- "That would be me..."
- "Give up on the family bath."
- "Get in a quick nap."
- Turning point 2
- "They were great!"
- "Head to sleep."
3. Erika Ending 1: New Friend, New Adventures:
- Turning point 1
- "If they have reserved baths."
- "That would be me..."
- "Give up on the family bath."
- "Get in a quick nap."
- Turning point 2
- "I didn't go in..."
- Turning point 3
- "What do you want to talk about?"
- "I wasn't a guy before..."
- "Thank Erika for listening."
- Turning point 4
- "Don't go to the baths."
- "Of course."
4. Erika Ending 2: The World Can Be Kind Too
- Turning point 1
- "If they have reserved baths."
- "That would be me..."
- "Give up on the family bath."
- "Get in a quick nap."
- Turning point 2
- "I didn't go in..."
- Turning point 3
- "What do you want to talk about?"
- "I wasn't a guy before..."
- "Thank Erika for listening."
- Turning point 4
- "Go to the baths."
- "A school lavatory."
- "..."
- "I'll be fine."
5. Good Ending: Hot Springs are Okay:
- Turning point 1
- "If they have reserved baths."
- "That would be me..."
- "Give up on the family bath."
- "Get in a quick nap."
- Turning point 2
- "I didn't go in..."
- Turning point 3
- "I'm a bit tired, so..."
- Turning point 5
- "Head to sleep."
- "It was great."
6. Manami Ending 1: Friends Forever:
- Turning point 1
- "If they have reserved baths."
- "That would be me..."
- "Give up on the family bath."
- "Get in a quick nap."
- Turning point 2
- "I didn't go in..."
- Turning point 3
- "I'm a bit tired, so..."
- Turning point 5
- "Keep Manami company."
- Turning point 6
- "Stay in this beautiful ryokan."
7. Manami Ending 2: Honesty Is Like A Gift:
- Turning point 1
- "If they have reserved baths."
- "That would be me..."
- "Give up on the family bath."
- "Get in a quick nap."
- Turning point 2
- "I didn't go in..."
- Turning point 3
- "I'm a bit tired, so..."
- Turning point 5
- "Keep Manami company."
- Turning point 6
- "Be here for your birthday."
- "Give Manami the present."
- "I'm happy you asked."
- "Not right now."
Hope you enjoyed this walkthrough!