''Hot Springs Story'' is a

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

business

simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of Conceptual model, models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or proc ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed and published by

Kairosoft is a Japanese video game developer located in Tokyo, Japan that has created a number of simulation games for cell phones, PCs and Nintendo Switch. Founded in 1996, the company has developed a number of mobile games for the Japanese market and ha ...

for the

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

, and the

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

. It was released for iOS on February 28, 2011, for Android on April 18, 2011, and for Nintendo Switch on October 11, 2018. The game focuses on a hot spring resort which the player is tasked with managing and making a profit from. It received mostly positive reviews from critics. A sequel, ''Hot Springs Story 2'', was released in 2020.

Gameplay

''Hot Springs Story'' focuses on a

resort business, where it is the player's job to expand the resort and to juggle the needs of customers. In order to attract more wealthy clientele, the player must impress guidebook writers who will increase the rating of the establishment. The player must juggle advertising, construction, and using booster items on specific rooms to increase their desirability for customers, all while managing the staff and a number of different issues.

Economy types

Customer Patience

Not all customers are the same, and have different patient levels.

Reception

Although ''Hot Springs Story'' received mostly positive reviews, the reception was muted compared to the hype and success that Kairosoft's previous Western release, ''Game Dev Story'', garnered; it received an 83/100 from

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

's Levi Buchanan felt that although it lacked the charm of ''Game Dev Story'', that ''Hot Springs Story'' was in some ways deeper, with the building aspects giving it more depth overall. '' TouchArcade'' noted that although the game could feel daunting at first, it ultimately was an incredibly deep and addicting simulation game. ''

Pocket Gamer ''Pocket Gamer'' is a video game website that focuses on mobile, portable and handheld games. The site launched in 2005 and is published and owned by UK company Steel Media Ltd. The site covers all major portable and mobile gaming formats, incl ...

'' Mike Rose praised the game's content and special features, but felt that the game held little to no direction in the very beginning. Gamezebo's Dan Zuccarelli heavily criticized the game for "playing itself", noting that he fell asleep during one playthrough without it affecting his progress in the game.

References

{{Kairosoft 2011 video games Android (operating system) games Business simulation games IOS games Kairosoft games Single-player video games Video games developed in Japan