The Bathhouse

The Bathhouse | 地獄銭湯♨️ was a J-horror game about a girl named Maina, who takes on a new job as a bathhouse attendant. The game is no longer available in the Steam store due to a game breaking bug that was occurring in the game.
The game has since been re-made under the name The Bathhouse: Restored Edition | RE：地獄銭湯♨️, which was released on August 10, 2024. 
== Synopsis ==
A woman by the name of Maina Akimura, has decided to quit her unhealthy company job and move to the calm countryside in the mountains after finding a job offer to be a bathhouse attendant. Luckily, the apartment she can live in is rent-free! But the apartment has no shower, forcing you to bathe in the bathhouse at the end of the day. As time goes on, Maina starts noticing that the villagers are acting weird around her, and strange occurrences are happening around the bathhouse. Is Maina just seeing things? Or is something sinister really happening at the bathhouse.
== Gameplay ==
The game starts out with a short cutscene, of someone whipping the ground with a cane in a darkly lit atmosphere. After a few seconds, the screen cuts to black with text appearing on screen. The person speaking is Maina Akimura, who is sick and tired of working at her current job at a company and wants to quit her job due to the unhealthy work environment. She wants to move to the countryside but is unable to due to money shortage. She discovers a flyer one day that offers an apartment in the countryside that is rent free, but they can only stay there if they're willing to work at a bathhouse. Seeing this as an opportunity, Maina decides to move into the countryside and start her new life there.
=== Day 1 ===
It is the start of a new chapter for Maina as she arrives at her new apartment in the countryside. She grabs some boxes off the ground (as her stuff is in there) and heads upstairs to Apartment 203. While walking to the stairs, she notices a man standing outside his apartment smoking a cigarette while staring at her. This doesn't bother her, and she continues heading up to the second floor. As Maina is about the open the door to her new apartment, a pale man walks over to her to talk to her. This person is the landlord, who welcomes Maina in a weird fashion. He tells her immediately that she stinks, and that she needs to get clean. He gives Maina the keys to her new apartment and tells her that when she is done moving her stuff, she should meet him at the bathhouse, as he wants to tell her something. Upon entering the apartment, Maina notices how the apartment looked dirty, small, and a bit eerie looking. The apartment only has a futon, a box of tissues, a small stove, and a sink. She places her stuff down, but notices a hole within the wall, with some hair sticking out of it. She pulls it out and hears a weird crunching sound after doing so. But she doesn't let this bother her as well, and heads back outside to go to the bathhouse. 
The player can explore around the place before they make their way to the bathhouse. Next to the apartment complex is the restrooms, with one of the rooms having a wanted poster sign. Looking closer at the poster, the person seen on it, is actually the guy who was smoking outside the apartment complex. Walking down the road, Maina can find different stores and houses within the street. Upon walking down the road, Maina hears a weird sound coming from something nearby. Looking up on the rooftop from a nearby wall with another wanted poster, it's revealed that the noises were coming from a monkey. Nearby is also a playground, an appliance store, a payphone booth and a trash area. But walking in between the wall and the candy store, (the building with a prize machine next to it), will lead up a stoned path that will lead to a nearby temple. In the temple, Maina finds a monk and decides to speak to him. The monk welcomes her with open arms and notices that she is the new person who moved to the town. He also notices that she is the one working at the bathhouse. But he claims it isn't good that she is doing so but doesn't explain why so, however, he feels that a presence is following Maina and recommends to her that he blesses her. 
The player can choose whether or not Maina should be blessed at the moment. If she agrees, the monk will tell her how obedient she is and blesses her. He lets her know that if she wants to be blessed again another time, she needs to bring a monetary offering before doing so. After that, Maina can explore around the temple grounds, and she notices another stoned path leading up to a small pond with a bridge. On the bridge, Maina can find a fishing pole and can use it to obtain a large sack from the pond. (Which is optional to do). Inside the sack are a bunch of Emas (small wooden plaques) in which she can place them onto the emagakes. Doing this a total of 10 times will grant the player an achievement. 
After doing all of this, she proceeds to head back down the steps, back to the street and heads directly to the bathhouse. Upon entering the right side of the bathhouse (blue curtains), Maina greets the landlord inside the place, and he lets her know that because her apartment has no shower, she can use the bathhouse to not only work, but to clean herself as well. When asked if she has any other choices to clean herself at, the landlord tells her she doesn't and goes on with the training. The only thing he tells Maina is that she simply has to follow every task written on the white board within the reception area and to keep all of her questions to herself. As it's easy to run the place on her own. He then leaves the place, and Maina starts her first shift. 
A male customer by the name of Futa comes in to use the bathhouse, he asks Maina to fetch him a razor, and a towel before using the baths. Maina does so, and after he leaves, an unexpected radio broadcast comes on and informs the listeners of a woman who has been missing since the past week. The message goes as follows:
Upon the radio station's mysterious broadcast, another customer (this time an old woman) named Chiyo comes in and asks for a towel before using the baths. After she heads out to the baths, Maina notices that no one else is going to come today and decides to take a nap. But all of a sudden, she wakes up to the horrified screams from Futa who claims that he saw something in the sauna room. He asks Maina if she can go and investigate it. But upon entering the sauna, Maina doesn't find anyone or anything within the room. Creeped out by this, Futa decides to leave the place, believing he did truly see something in there. After he leaves, Maina decides to do the chores and sweep up the dirt off the floors of the place. She grabs the broom from the locker and proceeds to sweep up the dirt off the floors. After sweeping the male side of the bathhouse, she heads to the other side to do the female side. But that's when she notices Chiyo standing next to the shoe lockers while seemingly placing something in them. She tells Maina mysteriously, that she would be "perfect" for the offering but leaves quickly before Maina questions her. After sweeping the female side as well, Maina proceeds to take a shower. However, during the middle of her shower, she hears mysterious noises coming from the place which makes her feels like she is not alone. However, it's revealed that a monkey got inside the bathhouse, and is running down the stalls of the showers.
A cutscene then follows in which a figure of a woman is seen inside the sauna in which Futa claims he saw something earlier. But quickly disappears into the room before the screen cuts to black.
=== Day 2 ===
The next day, Maina wakes up to get ready for work. But she notices that more hair is growing out of the hole, she pulls it out, and the same crunching sound is heard. Not bother by this, she brushes it off and heads off to work. While walking to the bathhouse, Maina notices a crow on top of the trash area holding something in its mouth, but since she doesn't have anything to trade it for, she can't obtain the object from the crow. Maina also sees an old woman named Matsuno, who is praying next to the entrance of the bathhouse. She has created a makeshift shrine, and she doesn't respond back to Maina as she tries to talk to her. With no other choice, Maina heads inside the bathhouse and begins her shift. 
The first customer who comes in is a man named Keichi, who asks for a towel, and for Maina to bring a drink within 15 minutes from now. After checking him in, a woman immediately rushes into the building. This woman's name is Denko, who tells the surprised Maina that she came back in here to find an earring that she dropped. After she leaves, another customer comes into the bathhouse, but she doesn't go through the curtains and instead hides behind it. Maina tells her that she can come in, but the mysterious girl doesn't respond back. After a few seconds, she quickly leaves the place without saying a word. Maina decides to brush it off again and takes a quick nap. After 15 minutes, she wakes up to get Keichi his drink. After bringing him his drink, Keichi asks Maina why she works here. To which she claims that she doesn't have a choice. But Keichi claims she always does have one and offers her to work for him as she will make a thousand times more money than at the bathhouse. To which Maina declines. Keichi replies back with annoyance and tells Maina how pathetic she is, and that if it wasn't him offering the job to her, she would really have no choice. He gets up to get dressed and leaves without saying a word. After Keichi leaves, it is time for Maina to do some tasks around the bathhouse. According to the white board, she needs clean the stains off the walls and to find out why the electricity bill is climbing up.
Maina proceeds to grab the bucket from the locker and gets ready to start cleaning, when all of a sudden...the power turns off! Maina quickly abandons her current duties and heads outside to turn the power back on. Behind the appliance store is a fuse box that connects the power to the bathhouse. But she needs a key in order to open the box. So Maina decides to head into the appliance store, where she tries to take the key to the fuse box off the counter. But the owner, who is revealed to be Denko, tells her to stop what she is doing. When Maina tries to speak to her, Denko immediately makes fun of her, and tells her that she can only look around the place as she doesn't look like the type who can afford to buy appliances. She also tells Maina that there is also no bartering allowed too. Seeing on how there isn't any way to convince her otherwise, Maina decides to create a distraction by pressing the fire alarm, which causes Denko to rush over to turn it off. Now with the opportunity, she quickly grabs the key, and heads back outside to restore the power within the bathhouse.
Continuing with the chores, Maina starts scrubbing all the dirt off the walls. But on the woman's side of the bathhouse, she notices that one of the dirt on the walls resembles to that of a woman. Maina tries to scrub it off, but the dirt stays on it. Since there doesn't seem to be anything that she can do to clean off the mysterious dirt off the wall, she decides to continue scrubbing the dirt off in other places. When she's done, she sits down and takes a shower. Unlike the previous day however, Maina doesn't encounter anything weird after using the shower. But when she climbs into the bathtub, she notices the silhouette of a person standing in front of the door to the changing area. But the figure quickly runs away before Maina can take a closer look at it. And suddenly, Maina notices something moving in the water, inside the bathtub that she is sitting in. Startled by this, she quickly gets out of the tub. But she then hears the sound of water running. Upon investigating the male side of the bathhouse, she finds out that some of the showers have been turned on. She quickly shuts them off, but hears a bloodcurdling scream, coming from somewhere inside the bathhouse. Before Maina leaves the place, she places an out of order sign on the male side of the bathhouse, and heads back to her apartment.
A brief cutscene is then shown of the monk, praying outside the bathhouse before the screen cuts to black.
=== Day 3 ===
Maina wakes up to start her shift again at the bathhouse. She notices that hair is once again, sprouting from the hole in the wall. She pulls it out, making the same crunching sound. But nothing happens again. Completely unbothered by this, Maina heads outside to go to work. She notices that on the candy store, there is a poster for a missing cat. But just not any cat, but the candy store cat! Continuing down the road, she notices that the monkey that she saw from the first day is lying dead on the street. Saddened by this, she quickly leaves the area and heads inside the bathhouse to start her shift.
Maina checks in two old ladies, one of them being Chiyo (the woman from the first day) and her friend, who asks for one bottle of shampoo and two towels. While they leave to get undress, the friend asks Chiyo about Maina, to which she claims how odd Maina is. After some time, a man who is a Chillatekes Believer comes into the place to promote the god: "Chillatekes". He offers to give Maina a golden statue of Chillatekes who will help give Maina vitality if she takes it. Maina responds back with confusion but ends up accepting the offer. But the price for the statue is revealed to be 100,000 yen. To which Maina responds back that she doesn't have that kind of money. Much to the disappointment of the believer. He takes back the statue but warns her before leaving by claiming that she shouldn't let Chillatekes abandon her. After he leaves, the phone starts ringing. Maina picks up the phone, but that's when an unknown voice starts talking from the other end of the phone. Muttering out the numbers: 8, 1, and 2. Before the line disconnects.
20 minutes later, Chiyo is finish with her time at the bathhouse. And just like the first day, she mysteriously tells Maina that a girl like her is perfect for the offering. But quickly leaves before Maina can question her. However, Chiyo's friend doesn't follow her out as well. In fact, she strangely isn't even in the building! But Maina doesn't notices it and instead does the tasks for today. According to the white board, she needs to get baking soda from the candy store. But wonders why there. Maina heads outside and heads in the direction of the candy store, but she hears someone talking loudly in the distance. She sees a man pulling a rickshaw in the distance, this man's name is Imojiro, who is a potato salesman. He is willing to sell Maina a sweet potato if she can answer some questions correctly about potato related facts.
The questions are as follows:
*Correct answers are in bold*
# Where do sweet potatoes grow?
#* Tree
#* Under water
#* Dirt
# When do you harvest them?
#* Spring
#* Summer
#* Autumn
#* Winter
# Do sweet potatoes bloom flowers?
#* Yes
#* No
# What do they look like?
#* Tulip
#* Morning Glory
#* Dandelion
# What is the best way to eat a sweet potato?
## Stone baked
## Microwave
## Boil
## Fry in oil
Answering all of the questions correctly will cause Imojiro to reward Maina with a sweet potato. After obtaining one, Maina heads inside the candy store, with almost everything being very scarce. Maina notices a locked chest but is unable to open it up. She then heads over to the checkout and greets the owner named Umeki. Umeki responds back in a peculiar way, as she claims that Maina has beautiful eyes, and wants to take a closer look at it. Regardless of whether or not Maina agrees to her doing so, she will do so anyways. Maina then asks her about the missing cat poster outside, to which Umeki tells her that her pet cat: "Tama-chan" is missing, and that if she finds her, she will give her a special gift. Maina heads back outside and heads toward the direction of the apartment complex. That is when she notices the guy from the first day using the toilet. But not only that, she hears the mowing of a cat in the adjacent bathroom stall. Realizing its Tama-chan, she quickly enters the stall and takes her with her, but she notices that after she leaves the stall, the man is no longer there. But regardless, she heads back to the candy store to give Tama-chan back to Umeki, to which she thanks her and rewards her with a Japanese doll that she made, and the key to the chest. Luckily, inside the chest is the baking soda that Maina needs, and she heads back to go and fulfill her duties.
She starts cleaning the rust off the shower heads and luckily, nothing out of the ordinary happens while she is cleaning. After finishing up her duties, Maina takes a shower. But after cleaning herself, she notices the silhouette of a woman in the mirror, standing behind her! But when she gets up and turns around, she doesn't see anyone. She decides to head into the sauna next and relaxes inside while pouring water into the rocks creating some steam. But after doing so for a few times. She turns around and gets jump scared by the ghost of the woman that she's been seeing throughout her nights at the bathhouse. Freaked out by this, Maina leaves the bathhouse in a hurry.
The screen then cuts to black, before another cutscene plays in which Matsuno can be seen walking by, and then being shown at the park while standing still.
=== Day 4 ===
Maina wakes up to start another day working at the bathhouse. However, she notices that the hair in the hole is back. But this time, it's even longer than before. When she pulls it out, instead of hearing the same crunching sound, she instead hears a loud croaking sound that sounds human-like. But Maina doesn't seem phased about it and simply walks out of her apartment to head to the bathhouse. As she walks by the playground, she notices Matsuno crying on the park bench. Maina goes over to comfort her and asks what's wrong. Matsuno doesn't explain why she's upset, but she does show Maina a picture of a girl who happens to be her granddaughter but breaks down before she can explain any further. Meaning that something happened to her granddaughter, and that the reason why she was praying outside the bathhouse was because she either died or went missing. Continuing down the road, Maina can also throw away the doll that she was given in the trash area. (Which is optional). After that, she heads into the bathhouse to start her next shift.
The first customer who comes in is a mother named Michi, who asks for one shampoo, body soap, and a towel. Turns out, she didn't come to the place alone, as she has brought her son named Shotaro as well to the bathhouse. After waiting for some time, Maina notices the young boy run from the female side to the male side, when all of a sudden, he starts screaming and crying in pain. Maina calls out to the mother but gets no response in return. Left with no other choice, Maina goes over to find Michi, but discovers that she isn't even there! Left to handle the situation, Maina goes over to check on the Shotaro who claims that his hand is really hurt. Maina finds the first-aid kit on the ground in the female side of the bathhouse and uses it to heal his wounds. After helping out Shotaro, he claims that his mother forced his hand into the fan! But before Maina questions him about it, he quickly leaves the place. After some time, Michi comes back and angrily blames Maina for hurting her son. She storms off and claims she won't come back ever again.
After handling Michi, Maina decides to leave the reception area for a bit, but upon doing so, she hears a knocking sound coming from somewhere inside the bathhouse. After investigating a bit, it turns out the knocking was coming from inside the woman's restroom. Maina knocks on the door and asks who's there. Turns out, Futa is here at the bathhouse and is using the bathroom, but he has run out of toilet paper! 
Maina can either ask why he is using the woman's restroom or ask if he was the same guy from a few days ago.
* Asking Futa why he is using the woman's restroom will result in Futa hesitantly claiming that he really needed to go and made a simple mistake.
* Asking Futa if he was the same guy from a few days ago will result in Futa hesitantly claiming he isn't.
But regardless, Maina has to bring him some toilet paper. After grabbing it from the top of the cleaning locker and giving it to him, Futa finishes his business and quickly runs out of the place without saying another word. Once he leaves, it is time for Maina to do some tasks around the bathhouse. With that being, to unclog the drains with some bleach. Everything goes normal and nothing happens while she is unclogging the drains. After finishing up, she decides to take a shower. But while bathing, she sees the same ghost that she saw the previous night, watching her from inside the bathing pool! But after getting up from the stool, the ghost is no longer there. Suspicious on what she saw, she goes over to the bathing pool and looks closely at the water. All of a sudden, the spirit rises out of the water and drags Maina into her realm!
Upon arriving in the realm, the spirit starts rising out of the water. Maina quickly gets up and tries to escape the bathhouse. But she finds out that all possible exits have been blocked by long and thick hair! (All belonging to the spirit). Despite her efforts to get out of the place, there is nothing that Maina can do to escape the place. Unfortunately, the spirit attacks her and kills her.
=== Day 5 ===
Maina has been reported missing. Her sister: Erena Akimura has taken noticed that she hasn't been in touch with her ever since she quit her job at the company. She is aware on where Maina went to live and work after she quit her original job, but she still hasn't responded back. A bit worried for her, Erena decides to go up to the village and stay there for the night to check up on her.
Upon this point, the player is now playing as Erena.
Erena arrives in the village where her sister has been living for some time. Her friend Maho comforts her and tells Erena that everything is going to be alright and that Maina might just be struggling at this point in time. But if she needs any help, she can call her. Erena thanks her and Maho proceeds to drive off. Erena then grabs her bag and heads to Maina's apartment to check on her. She knocks the door to her apartment but notices that she doesn't seem to be home. And that's when a familiar face shows up in front of her. The landlord greets and welcomes her to the village. He lets Erena know that Maina is currently on a trip with some friends and will be back in less than a week. He allows Erena to stay in the apartment complex in the meantime but lets her know that if she wants to take a bath, she has to use the bathhouse. On top of that, she can stay at the apartments for free if she works at the bathhouse. Erena doesn't hesitate and accepts the offer, much to the landlord's amusement. He tells Erena just like what he told Maina on her first day, that running the bathhouse isn't hard and would let her be. After opening the door to her temporary apartment (Apartment 205) and placing her stuff down, she proceeds to head out to the bathhouse. 
(It's worth noting that if the player didn't make Maina throw away the doll in the trash area, the doll will be in the apartment in the far-right corner. (To the left where Erena places down her bag). The doll will have a scarier appearance, with the doll having bulging eyes and a bit of blood on its face).
Erena notices that a crow is on top of the trash area, (which is the same one Maina saw before) but she cannot offer anything to it. She heads inside and starts her first shift.
The first customer is the guy from the wanted poster. Who simply asks for one towel. Erena gives him one and he goes over to use the baths. However, as payment, he instead gives a 5-yen coin instead of a 100-yen coin like most customers did with Maina. After waiting a bit, another woman comes in to use the bathhouse and asks for one towel. After Erena gives her the towel and deposits the 100 yen into the coin holder, the lady all of a sudden, transform into Maina! Speechless, Erena asks Maina if that's truly her. But the only response from her was a giggle before she quickly runs off into the bathing area. Erena quickly gets out of the reception desk to follow her but upon arriving in the bathing area, the only person there is the woman she originally served: Sanami. Erena asks her if she has seen her sister, but Sanami replies back with both confusion and annoyance as she claims that she is the only one who's been in the bathing area. On top of that, she is infuriated with the fact that the water in the bathing pool is cold and refuses to go in. Sanami tells Erena to go and fix the boiler in the boiler room as she will wait in the sauna. As Sanami heads in there, the call bell is heard from the reception desk. So, Erena heads there and finds Matsuno who lets her know that she shouldn't be here and there isn't much time left. But before Erena can question her, Matsuno quickly leaves the place. Left unbothered by this, Erena heads to the boiler room to fix the boilers. (The door leading to the boiler room is on the male side of the bathhouse. It is the door to the left). Strangely, the man from earlier has disappeared. 
Erena enters the boiler room and finds a washing machine, four different furnaces and a closed off door. The washing machine is noticeably locked, and it won't open until the water inside the machine is drained out. But the drain tube is missing, so Erena will have to find one. Heading over to the furnaces, Erena finds a pile of wood and puts it into one of the furnaces. But it isn't enough to light all four of them so she must find more wood. Heading back up, Erena leaves the place to find some more firewood and a drain tube. Luckily, she can head up the temple (where the monk isn't there), where she can find three piles of wood next to a sign that reads: 
But before she goes, she can throw the 5-yen coin into the donation box. After doing so, she can reach into the omikuji box next to the donation box. Erena finds a piece of a newspaper inside the box. Erena heads back to the bathhouse to put the firewood into the furnaces. Once she puts a pile of wood in each of the other three furnaces, she can finally tell Sanami that she can use the baths. But when Erena heads into the sauna to tell her, she finds Maina again! She tries to talk to her, but Maina quickly runs off in a flash. However, Erena does find the key to her sister's apartment lying on the ground in the corner of the woman's bathing area. 
*(The key can be found even before Erena confronts Maina the second time or even before doing the boiler room task)*
Erena heads back to the apartment complex and opens the door to Maina's apartment. In the apartment, she finds the doll that Maina received from Umeki along with another newspaper piece on the tatami. Picking up the doll shows that the doll has the same appearance as the one that Erena in found her temporary apartment. Investigating further, she finds the hole in which hair has been growing out of, with the hair being longer than ever. (Erena cannot pull it out though). On top of that, long hair can also be found partially covering up the calendar on the wall. Erena also finds another tatami on the ground that is filled with mattresses and pillows. She notices that underneath the tatami is a loose floorboard and removes it from its position. She discovers another newspaper piece underneath the board and a diary that belongs to a person named Yoko. (The same person who was reported missing from the radio broadcast). Erena combines the three newspapers clippings together to make out a newspaper article about a missing person. It reads:
Erena then reads Yoko's diary which contains the following:
Before leaving the place, Erena can also look inside the fridge and find the sweet potato that Imojiro gave to Maina. Now that Erena has something to give to the crow, she heads over back to the trash area and gives the crow the sweet potato. The crow will then drop the item from its mouth revealing that it was holding a shoe locker key. Upon heading back to the bathhouse Erena does notice that one of the shoe lockers is missing its key. (The same one that Chiyo was standing next to on the first night). She places the key in there and finds the key to the trash area. Erena heads back to the trash area and opens up the locked door on the left. There, she can find the drain tube. Erena then heads back downstairs in the boiler room and replaces the missing pipe in its place. Then, she heads back upstairs to grab some towels that need washing, (Sitting on a table on the female side of the reception area), then heads back downstairs to wash it. Once its clean, she grabs the towels and place it back upstairs on a shelf.
With that done, Erena can finally take a bath. But upon this point, it is up to the player to decide the outcome of game.
== Endings ==
=== Bad Ending ===
After a long day of work and weird occurrences at the bathhouse. Erena decides to finally relax and take a bath in the bathhouse. Upon sitting down to take a shower, she sees the same ghost that Maina in the mirror! Startled by this, Erena quickly gets up from the stool and notices that the lights had turned red, and a timer has appeared on the wall. With the player only getting 5 minutes to escape from the spirit before it kills Erena. Erena quickly leaves the bathing area and notices a bunch of items from the bathing area have been placed on a table. The items contain the following:
* 3 bath stools
* 2 bath bowls
* 1 shampoo bottle
* 1 conditioner bottle
* 1 body wash bottle
* 1 rubber duck
She quickly grabs all of them and must place all the missing items within the woman's bathing area. However, the items must be placed in the correct positions. To guide the player, they can head over to the male bathing area (where none of the items are misplaced) to let them know on where to place the items.
The items go in as follows:
* The rubber duck should be placed in the bathing pool that is close to the sauna. 
* A bath bowl should be placed next to the bathing pool that is in front of the door to the bathing area. With the bowl being placed in-between that pool and the pool that's closest to the sauna. It must be placed in the top right corner.
* The second and final bath bowl should be placed next to the stool that is already settled in the room before the timer started. (Where Erena was sitting). It must be placed on the floor next to it.
* The shampoo should be placed next to the stool that is already settled in the room before the timer started. (Where Erena was sitting). It must be placed on the stand on the left.
* A bath stool should be placed next to the bathing pool that's close to the entrance of the female bathing area. It must be placed near the door to the entrance.
* Another bath stool should be placed in between the showers that are in the middle of the bathing area. If you're standing by the pools, you must place the bath stool in-between the two showers, but it has to be place next to the one on the right. If you're standing by the showers on the walls, you must place it in between the two showers, it has to be next to the one on the left.
* The third and final bath stool should be placed by the shower that's closest to the sauna. (The showers connected to the walls).
* The conditioner should be placed in the showers that are in the middle of the bathing area. Standing by the showers on the walls, place the conditioner on the showers on the left with its position being in between the shower on the left and the middle.
* The body wash should be placed in the showers that are in the middle of the bathing area. Standing by the pools by the wall, place the body wash on the showers on the left with its position being in between the shower on the right and the middle.
(Successfully mirroring the positions of the items will grant the player an achievement).
Regardless of Erena getting the order correct in time or not. The lights will immediately turn off plunging the bathhouse into complete darkness. If Erena gets it correct, she'll be able to head towards the main entrance (which was blocked off by the spirit's hair) and jump into the void (which is filled with water). After a few seconds, she'll be attack by the spirit. If she doesn't manage to get the order correct, the spirit will instead approach her and attack her from there and drag Erena into her realm.
As the spirit rises out of the bathtub, Erena must make her escape. While Maina could not in any way shape or form escape due to the long thick hair blocking the entrance. Erena is able to do so. She quickly brushes away all the hair that is blocking her path while she is being chased by her pursuer. Once she gets rid of the hair at the entrance, Erena quickly makes her way back to the apartments and quickly hides in her apartment. She proceeds to sit and cower in the corner of the apartment while the lights begin to flicker. Erena then sees the spirit of the woman inside the apartment before disappearing. Then the spirit appears right in front of her, attacks her, and knocks her unconscious.
After the screen cuts to black for a few seconds, we see someone dragging Erena back to the bathhouse, and into the boiler room down below. Turns out, the person dragging her was the landlord, who proceeds to throw her body into the furnace while the monk looks on from behind. The spirit then proceeds to kill both the monk and the landlord after doing so. Harvesting enough power, the spirit of the woman is able to free herself from the bathhouse and is now able to roam the world and kill anyone in her path.
=== Good Ending ===
*The player is required to do some additional steps to get this ending.*
After discovering some evidence in her sister's apartment about what might had happened to her missing sister. And some secrets on both the town folks and what happened from another unfortunate victim. Erena decides not to take a bath immediately after finishing up the tasks and will continue to investigate the situation.
Upon reading the newspaper clippings that she gathered and noticing the hidden message written on the back of the newspaper. "Inside the ashes". Erena decides to head back to the bathhouse and look through the furnaces to see what she can find. She grabs a pair of tongs lying next to one of the boilers and looks through them. She doesn't find any in the first three, but upon inspecting the fourth and final one (the one on the far right), she finds the key that will unlock the taped-up door. Upon opening it, she discovers the bathhouse's hidden garden and discovers a hatch that leads down to the basement of the bathhouse. She climbs down the hatch and discovers a chamber within the basement. Looking closely, this is the same exact chamber in which the mysterious person was seen in during the intro of the game. Inside this chamber, Erena discovers a man who has a heavily disheveled look, is chained up and has been badly beaten. Looking around some more, Erena discovers an altar with a book titled: "The Summoning of Ubume". The book reads: 
Erena also discovers two more books lying on the ground. One of them being some notes that was written by the monk. The notebook reads:
And finally, a diary belonging to the landlord can be found as well. The diary reads:
With all of this information in mind, it is clear as to what is going on. Yoko Inukubo (the girl who was reported missing earlier in the game) was considered an outcast amongst the villagers within the village. With her life being miserable as days go by. She eventually met the monk one day who treated her with kindness and the two secretly fell in love with one another. One day, he decided to trick Yoko into luring her into the bathhouse's basement and murders her there. The reason he did so was because of something he did in the past. The monk fell in love with another woman from the village and got the woman pregnant. The monk was not willing to accept this and was worried what would happen if word got out that he fell in love with someone from the village. He then kills the woman, but he didn't act fast enough as she gave birth to their child. (As noted in his notes). A son, who is revealed to be the man that is chained up in the basement. (Who the monk was whipping as seen in the intro). Once she finally died, her vengeful spirit came back as an "Ubume", a yokai or spirit of a woman who has died during childbirth. She proceeds to place a curse on the monk and in order to free himself, he has to lure three women into the bathhouse and kill them in order to be free from the curse. The monk manipulated the landlord to help carry out his plan, (who at first wasn't on board with it), with the possibility that he did the same to the other villagers as well. 
The monk was able to sacrifice two out of three people to the Ubume. Yoko was the first victim, Erena's sister Maina became the second victim, and finally, Erena will become the third. The reason why Matsuno was mourning in front of the bathhouse was because Yoko was her granddaughter and she tried to warn Erena to leave the place before she becomes a victim too. (Showing that Matsuno might be aware on what's going on). 
Now realizing this, Erena decides to act quickly and grabs a bolt cutter leaning next to the altar and free the man from his chains. The man doesn't leave, but Erena can rest assure he is now free. Upon this point, Erena can head back up from the hatch and take a shower. Where just like in the bad ending, Erena encounters the Ubume in the reflection of the mirror. Then, the bathhouse's lights will become red in color and Erena has to grab the items from the table and place them in the correct position (mirroring the male's bathing area) before the timer runs out.
(*The guide on where the items go are listed in the bad ending.*)
Regardless of Erena getting the order correct in time or not. The lights will immediately turn off plunging the bathhouse into complete darkness. If Erena gets it correct, she'll be able to head towards the main entrance (which was blocked off by the spirit's hair) and jump into the void (which is filled with water). After a few seconds, she'll be attack by the Ubume. If she doesn't manage to get the order correct, the Ubume will instead approach her and attack her from there and drag Erena into her realm.
As the spirit rises out of the bathtub, Erena must make her escape. She quickly brushes away all the hair that is blocking her path while she is being chased by her pursuer. Once she gets rid of the hair at the entrance, Erena quickly makes her way back to the apartments and quickly hides in her apartment. She proceeds to sit and cower in the corner of the apartment while the lights begin to flicker. Erena then sees the Ubume inside the apartment before disappearing. Then the Ubume appears right in front of her, attacks her, and knocks her unconscious.
After the screen cuts to black for a few seconds, we see someone dragging Erena back to the bathhouse, and into the boiler room down below. Turns out, the person dragging her was the landlord, who is about throw in Erena into the furnace as the last sacrifice for the Ubume while the monk helps in from the side. However, since Erena was able to free the man from the basement, he comes to her rescue and proceeds to set both the monk and the landlord on fire before they can throw her in the furnace. The man then drags her outside to safety before he proceeds to burn the bathhouse to the ground. Matsuno notices Erena lying on the ground and quickly helps her.
In the epilogue, Erena is taken to a nearby hospital where she finds out that she has a full body fracture. A police officer (who was standing next to her) asks her what had happened. After Erena explains the situation to him, the officer looked puzzled and claims that no one should be living in the village. This shocks and confuses Erena as she tries to remember what had happened that night. She concludes that Yoko was truly the Ubume and was set out to kill her and Maina.
However, Erena doesn't even remember why she went to the village in the first place and doesn't even remember her own sister.
== Characters ==
* Maina Akimura - The main protagonist of the game. She moves into the countryside after finding a job offering to work at a bathhouse in exchange for an apartment for free rent. She did this because her original job at a company was stressful. Maina takes a liking towards her new job, despite all the customers she normally serves at the place. She's shown to be obedient and quite brave towards every situation, despite all the supernatural occurrences within the bathhouse and the way the villagers act towards her. Maina unfortunately dies at the end of the fourth day from the Ubume who has been haunting the bathhouse.
* Erena Akimura - The sister of Maina and the deuteragonist of the game. She comes to town after noticing that her sister hasn't been in touch with her ever since she quit her job at the company. She decides to go up to the village and stay there for the night to check up on her. Just like with Maina, she also ends up working at the bathhouse while she waits or finds Maina. She also encounters the same paranormal occurrences within the bathhouse during her stay. In the bad ending, she is unfortunately sacrificed and killed by the landlord and the monk to appease the Ubume. However, in the good ending, she is able to escape before being sacrificed due to the help from the man she freed from the basement. She unfortunately forgets who Maina is after she is rescued.
=== Antagonists ===
* The Landlord - The supporting antagonist of the game. He is the owner of the apartment complex that Maina and later Erena stays at. The landlord is quite pale and is hunched over and tends to greet new tenants in a weird way. Besides being the owner of the apartment complex, he is also the owner of the bathhouse. He doesn't give too much explanation towards new workers on what to do when they work at the bathhouse. It is revealed that he was a part of the monk's plan to lure women into the bathhouse to work, and later sacrifice to the Ubume. While he wasn't okay with this at first as revealed in his journal but was convinced to do so otherwise by the monk who claims he will be cursed too. In the good ending he is set on fire by the man in the basement (after Erena sets him free), before Erena can be burned in the furnace.
* The Monk - The main antagonist of the game. A friendly monk who happily greets all newcomers into the village. He is always seen with a smile and is willing to bless anyone. Early in the game, he warns Maina that it isn't good that she is working at the bathhouse since he feels a presence surrounding her. It is revealed that in the past, he fell in love with a woman and had gotten her pregnant. Since it is unprecedent for a monk to be in a relationship with someone and worried that his secret will come out to the other villagers, he quickly killed the woman but failed to do so in time before she gave birth to their son. Thus, becoming an Ubume. The monk kept his son but chained him up in the basement and whips him in order to prevent him from escaping. In order to appease the Ubume, he has to lure three women in order to be free from the curse, and he convinced the landlord to help him out. He successfully kills Yoko Inukubo and Maina Akimura but doesn't successfully kill Erena. In the good ending, he is set on fire by his son after Erena frees her before he and the landlord can burn Erena in the furnace.
* The Ubume - The main antagonist of the game. An Ubume is a yokai or spirit of a woman who has died upon childbirth. In the past, the monk had fallen in love with a woman and had gotten her pregnant. Not wanting the town to know about his secret, he quickly kills the woman but fails to do so in time. The woman unfortunately gave birth to a baby boy before he successfully kills her. In order to appease the Ubume, the monk had to kill three women as sacrifice in order to be free from the curse. Because of this, her spirit haunts the bathhouse, and has been seen throughout the time Maina and Erena worked at the bathhouse. At the end of the good ending, Erena believes that the Ubume might have been Yoko, who was lured in by the monk into the bathhouse and sacrificed after successfully getting her to fall in love with her. While it may be unlikely due to the time of her death being 8 months before Maina came into town and the man in the basement (who is the son of the monk) would have not been a grown adult by then. However, Yoko's spirit may have been damaged and has haunted the bathhouse due to the nature of her death.
=== Minor Characters ===
* Yoko Inukubo - The 29-year old granddaughter of Matsuno and the first victim of the Ubume. After moving into the village, she became an outcast from the rest of the village. But after meeting the monk, the two of them fell in love but their relationship had to be kept a secret from the other villagers. She was eventually lured in one day by the monk into the bathhouse and was killed by him and the landlord, therefore becoming the first victim of the Ubume. Erena believes that Yoko became the Ubume after being killed by the monk due to the nature of her death. With her damaged spirit haunting the bathhouse in which she was killed in and therefore getting revenge on anyone who comes into the place.
* Matsuno - The grandmother of Yoko Inukubo. She is greatly concerned for her granddaughter's safety after she has gone missing after she was lured in by the monk into the bathhouse and was later killed by him. Matsuno was first seen praying for her outside the entrance of the bathhouse and later seen sitting on a park bench mourning for Yoko. It is likely that she knew what was going on and knew that her granddaughter was dead. Thus, quickly trying to warn Erena from falling victim to the Ubume. In the good ending, she helps Erena to safety after noticing her lying on the street after the bathhouse was set ablaze by the monk's son.
* Basement Man - A disheveled man who was locked up in chains inside the bathhouse's basement. He is the son of the monk who in which he had with a woman that he had a relationship with. The monk was not willing to let the villagers know about the relationship he had with the woman and therefore killed the woman but kept his son alive. He kept his son chained downstairs to prevent him from escaping. In the intro, the monk was seen whipping him with a cane. In the good ending, Erena sets him free, and a token of his appreciation, he saves Erena from being burned by the monk (his father), and the landlord by setting them both ablaze. He then sets the place on fire and was never seen since then.
* Futa - A customer who comes to the bathhouse on both the first and fourth day. He sees the Ubume within the sauna while he was bathing on the first day. But leaves after Maina doesn't find her in there. On the fourth day, he uses the woman's restroom despite never coming into bathhouse earlier. He requests Maina to bring him toilet paper as he ran out. After finishing, he quickly he leaves the place. In the good ending, the police officer that was talking to Erena revealed that no one should be living in the town. So, it's likely that Futa never existed or is actually dead.
* Chiyo - A mysterious old woman who comes to the bathhouse on the first and the third day. After using the bathhouse on the first day, she is seen by the shoe lockers placing something in it while telling Maina that she will be "perfect" offering. On the third day, she comes in with a friend and makes fun of Maina behind her back. Before she leaves (without her friend) she tells Maina again that's she's a "perfect" offering. In the good ending, the police officer that was talking to Erena revealed that no one should be living in the town. So, it's likely that Chiyo never existed or is actually dead.
* Chiyo's friend - An old woman who comes to the bathhouse with Chiyo on the third day. She makes fun of Maina along with Chiyo behind her back after being checked into the bathhouse. She is never seen leaving the place with Chiyo and was not even in the building when she left the place. In the good ending, the police officer that was talking to Erena revealed that no one should be living in the town. So, it's likely that Chiyo's friend never existed or is actually dead.
* Keichi - A customer who comes to the bathhouse on the second day. It is believed that he works for the Yakuza or somewhere in the life of crime. He tries to convince Maina to come work for him as she will make more than what she's making now. After Maina refuses, he gets angry and leaves claiming that if he wasn't the one offering the job offer, Maina would really have no choice but to take it. In the good ending, the police officer that was talking to Erena revealed that no one should be living in the town. So, it's likely that Keichi never existed or is actually dead. But it's possible he may not be from town and was likely travelling.
* Denko - A customer who comes into the bathhouse on the second day to find her missing earring. She is also the owner of the electronics store across the street and treats all of the electronics in the store like her kids. She is also quite snobby and arrogant as she implies to Maina to leave the place as she believes she can't afford to buy anything from the place. In the good ending, the police officer that was talking to Erena revealed that no one should be living in the town. So, it's likely that Denko never existed or is actually dead.
* Chillatekes Believer - A man who believes in the god "Chillatekes". He comes to the bathhouse on the third day to advertise the religion and God to Maina and offers a golden statue of Chillatekes for 100,000 yen. After Maina tells him she doesn't have that kind of money, he leaves and tells her not lose faith in Chillatekes. In the good ending, the police officer that was talking to Erena revealed that no one should be living in the town. So, it's likely that the Chillatekes believer never existed or is actually dead. However, he could have been a traveler who is trying to spread the religion to as much people as possible.
* Imojiro - A travelling potato salesman who sells sweet potatoes on a rickshaw. Before he can sell any potatoes to customers, he is required to ask customers some questions before he can give them one. (As it's company policy). In the good ending, the police officer that was talking to Erena revealed that no one should be living in the town. So, it's likely that Imojiro never existed or is actually dead. However, he could have been a simple traveling salesman who is trying to sell some potatoes to people.
* Umeki - The owner of the candy store in the village. Just like with the landlord, she greets Maina in a weird fashion when they first meet each other. After Maina mentions her missing cat, Umeki requests her to help find her cat: "Tama-chan". After finding her cat, Maina receives a doll and the key to the chest in which the baking soda is in. In the good ending, the police officer that was talking to Erena revealed that no one should be living in the town. So, it's likely that Umeki never existed or is actually dead.
* Maho - A friend of Erena who drops her off at the village. She assures Erena that her sister is most likely alright but tells her to call her if she needs help.
* Michi - The mother of Sotaro. She comes into the bathhouse with her son on the fourth day. She is shown to be rather neglectful and doesn't seem to take notice on what her son does when she isn't looking. According to Sotaro, Michi forced his hand into the fan and therefore, cutting himself. (Meaning she could also be abusive). However, when Michi finishes up, she blames Maina for the incident and claims she won't come back again. In the good ending, the police officer that was talking to Erena revealed that no one should be living in the town. So, it's likely that Michi never existed or is actually dead.
* Sotaro - The son of Michi. He comes into the bathhouse with his mother on the fourth day. He accidently cuts himself after his fan got caught in the fan. He claims that his mother did this to him, and after Maina bandages him up, he quickly runs out of the place. It is possible that Michi didn't do this to him but rather the Ubume who forced his hand into the fan. As the Ubume most likely shape-shifted to resemble that of his mother. In the good ending, the police officer that was talking to Erena revealed that no one should be living in the town. So, it's likely that Sotaro never existed or is actually dead.
* Sanami - One of the customers that Erena serves on her first shift. She gets annoyed when she finds out that the baths are not heated and demands Erena to fix the heating system. Twice during the shift, Erena saw her sister in place of Sanami. Indicating that Sanami truly never existed, was the Ubume in disguise, or Erena was hallucinating due to her missing her sister.
* Mysterious Man - A man who is wanted by the police for the murder of a woman. He is seen on the first day smoking a cigarette outside the apartment complex and seen using the bathroom on the third day. He comes in on Erena's first day to use the bathhouse. Despite being a killer himself, he isn't an antagonist in anyway shape or form. In the good ending, the police officer that was talking to Erena revealed that no one should be living in the town. So, it's likely that the mysterious man never existed or is actually dead.
== Controls ==
* WASD - Move the protagonist around.
* Mouse - Look Around.
* Left Mouse Click - Interact.
* Esc button - Options.
* Tab button - Inventory
* Shift - Run
* C button - Crouch
== Trivia ==
* As stated above, the game was removed from Steam due to a game-breaking bug. With the bug occurring when the player tries to enter into Room 203. (Maina's apartment).
** The Bathhouse is so far the first and only game created by Chilla's Art to be discontinued from Steam.
** Because of this, Chilla's Art decided to create a remake of The Bathhouse (which was released on August 2024) which would be an improvement from the original.
*Maina is amongst the few main protagonists whose appearance was shown.
**Her appearance isn't shown until the day Erena arrives in town to look for her.
*Maina is one of the few main protagonists in the Chilla's Art games to be confirmed deceased.
*This is one of the few games to have the player control more than one character throughout the game.
*Most of the Emas have references to Patreon supporters.
*The game contains many references towards Chilla's Art:
**A prize machine is seen within the village that references to many of Chilla's Arts' other games. With the references being listed as follows:
*** Hanako-San from Hanako
*** Aka Manto from the game with the same name
*** Yuki Onna from the game with the same name
*** The Logo of Chilla's Coffee from The Closing Shift
*** The Logo of Chilla's Art
** A plushie of a purple chinchilla can also be seen within the cubby holes of the bathhouse.
** The worshipper who comes into the bathhouse on the third day believes in the god: "Chillatekes".
== External links ==
* The Bathhouse on Steam
* Game discontinuation announcement
== Gallery ==
File:Official Picture in Steam --1.jpg|Official Picture in Steam #1
File:Official Picture in Steam --2.jpg|Official Picture in Steam #2
File:Official Picture in Steam --3.jpg|Official Picture in Steam #3
File:Official Picture in Steam --4.jpg|Official Picture in Steam #4
File:Official Picture in Steam --5.jpg|Official Picture in Steam #5
File:Official Picture in Steam --6.jpg|Official Picture in Steam #6
Category:Games