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.
The devs are planning on adding other extra stuff you can interact with on certain stages, too, so come the full release you might stumble into a mysterious “enchantment box” or some other fantastical things.
Weirder, and more inhuman customers would be the most obvious way to lean into Onsen Master’s setting, and make it stand out.
You’ll notice some customers are a bit speedier than others when pulled along, so it may be worth prioritising nimbler folk if time’s running short.
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.