Bathhouse management in Onsen Master is fun, but needs more radish demons

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind® Game of the Year Edition

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind® Game of the Year Edition includes Morrowind plus all of the content from the Bloodmoon and Tribunal expansions. The original Mod Construction Set is not included in this package. An epic, open-ended single-player RPG, Morrowind allows you to create and play any kind of character imaginable.

A screenshot of Onsen Master which shows customers queuing outside your store. Four hot springs emit different coloured steam, puddles litter the floor, and your character hurriedly mixes ingredients in the centre.

Featured as part of the Game Devs of Color Expo and its Gradient Convergence showcase on Steam, Onsen Master’s Ghibli aesthetics caught my eye immediately. It’s a “hot spring customer management” game where you ditch the whole ‘service with a smile’ schtick and drag your customers with speed and aggression into hot spring baths you’ve prepared especially for them.

Other duties include making sure they’re cleaned between uses, that you’ve mixed the right ingredients, and you’re keeping spillages to a minimum. It’s a tough gig! And the more I ran my onsen in the demo build, the more I felt a seldom used part of my brain expanding. Is this – am I multitasking?

(more…)