20XX's Seventh Gen Favs #13 - Hot Springs Story

Even more addictive than Kairosoft's other iOS treat Game Dev Story, Hot Springs Story gave you a plot of land and asked you to maximise the monetary rinse of every square inch. This fleecing began by placing cold fizzy drink dispensers next to the blistering baths. Played at peak, visitors rooms were encircled by a maze of tempting amenities designed to mug them quick and bounce them home poor. Like Game Dev Story, which taught you to despise your indifferent audience, Hot Springs Story exposes another bleak truth at the heart of the capitalist experience. You erect a resplendent, luxurious palace not for any aesthetic or Godly concern, but simply as a means to swallow up as many people as possible and make their wealth yours.

Ten Video Games 2010: Game Dev Story

Beginning on the cusp of the 8-bit console era, Game Dev Story charts the progress of a video game start-up. Studio named and coders hired, early perils include high licence costs for console development, an unmotivated staff, and an indifferent audience. Although dressed up with cutesy micro SD stylings, there's a ruthless heart beating in Game Dev. The tippy-tappy stat management masks a small business headache simulator. You too can experience the joys of employee loathing, and industry exclusion! Players meander on as the years mount, perhaps hitting on a vague formula for success. The temptation to run this winning combination into the ground is total. Whether or not Game Dev Story bears any relation to actual game development is irrelevant; this iPhone remix of a decade old Japanese PC title allows an uncomfortable glimpse into any newly successful business. The wealthier you get, the further away you slip from your niche exploitation beginnings, often to the point were once loyal customers begin to resemble a mob of ugly discontents. How dare they reject your latest masterpiece! They should be grateful you make anything for them at all!