When comparing Hot Springs Story vs Game Dev Story, the Slant community recommends Game Dev Story for most people. In the question“What are the best Kairosoft games on Android?” Game Dev Story is ranked 1st while Hot Springs Story is ranked 2nd. The most important reason people chose Game Dev Story is:
Nearly everything is self-explanatory, and the bits that aren't get explained by your secretary. This makes for a game that is easy to understand, even if it does not seem evident at first.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Easy to learn
Kairosoft has games with really convoluted mechanics, but Hot Springs Story is not one of them. It's quite easy to grasp and you'll be building a grand resort in no time.
Pro Progression feels nice
Your hot spring inn will advance gradually, allowing you to add slight improvements over time. There aren't any crazy leaps in advancements like in some Kairosoft titles.
Pro Nice looking visual design
Hot Springs Story has very nice looking isometric graphics. Each of the facilities are very detailed and none of the elements feel out of place.
Pro Simple and intuitive gameplay allows the game to be accessible, no matter the skill level
Nearly everything is self-explanatory, and the bits that aren't get explained by your secretary. This makes for a game that is easy to understand, even if it does not seem evident at first.
Pro Very engaging due to quick progression and frequent events
Contracts are measured in weeks and development cycles in months, but time passes at the rate of one day per second. Though the core gameplay involves watching little icons pop up over your employees' heads, rarely do five seconds go by without some player action being prudent, if not required.
Pro Fulfils a fantasy of creating a game studio
You get to choose what type of game you want to make, what tools you use to make it, who you hire to make it, what systems you publish the final product on and you get to watch how it is received by the world. Then you do it all over again bigger.
Pro A free demo version is available for anyone to try out
Game Dev Story Lite is available for free on the Google Play store. The Lite version ends after 2 in-game years.
Pro Entertaining business success model typical for Kairosoft games
Cons
Con Hard to relate to for non-Japanese people
This game is about running a hot spring, which is a resort found mostly in Japan. It might seem a bit weird, causing you to lose some of the immersion.
Con Game is not free
Con Punctuation and grammar errors
Game Dev Story is a Japanese game that was translated to English, which shows, as sometimes there are a few grammatical errors in game. This shows a lack of polish, which may aggravate some players.
Con Unclear method of determining a game's success
Sometimes it is unclear how to find out how successful a game is.
Con It's very hard to fail
Your employees' salaries are waived the first year ("government subsidy") and you can go into the red to pay them after that. You can't develop a game without some initial funds, but since you can always take a contract to make money, there's basically no hole you can't crawl out of.