The Bathhouse story, explained

A story about sacrifice and family, The Bathhouse is one of Chilla’s Art’s most popular horror games, but what is this supernatural adventure about?

Originally released on Oct. 1, 2022, The Bathhouse garnered a lot of attention for all the right reasons, being one of the best Chilla’s Art games since The Closing Shift. Its rise came to a standstill, however, when a game-breaking bug forced the dev to discontinue The Bathhouse and remove it from Steam in March 2023.

On Aug. 10, 2024, The Bathhouse returned to Steam with upgraded graphics and narrative changes. If you didn’t get the chance to play the original, then here’s everything you can expect from Chilla’s Art: The Bathhouse Restored Edition.

Warning for major spoilers below.

Chilla’s Art: The Bathhouse Restored Edition, story explained

The story begins with an unknown staff member, working their usual shift at the bathhouse. Lured into the sauna by the Landlord (the antagonist from the original game), they are killed by a long black-haired spirit. The Bathhouse switches point of view to a new character, Maina, who has moved out of the city to work at the bathhouse (which suspiciously includes free accommodation).

The haunting of the bathhouse

As Maina works at the bathhouse, she begins to experience bizarre supernatural events. The village grows stranger and stranger as you clock into each shift, with the residents’ dialogue and behavior taking a turn for the worst. Closing the bathhouse for the night, Maina sees a woman get attacked in the stove room, and another call for help while she bathes herself before clocking out. Maina converses with the woman on the other side of the bathhouse while she bathes, with the conversation repeating itself. Unsettled, Maina seeks comfort with the Landlord, who tells her to visit the shrine before work.

Maina meets the Priest (the second antagonist from the original) at the shrine. Sensing evil around her, the Priest blesses her and gives her a Yaoyorozu amulet. This is different to the original game, where the player is given the option to either accept or decline the Priest’s blessing. Maina returns to work and meets Toru (the Mysterious Man from the original game). He explains that he’s looking for his missing sister.

What is the bathhouse curse?

On Maina’s final day at the bathhouse, the Priest tells her about the door inside the boiler room. Maina hides inside the bathhouse until she can sneak past the Landlord to see what lurks beneath the boiler room. Maina finds the basement, which holds a single mattress, shackles, toilet, and sink. Upon closer inspection of the room, Maina finds a journal entry from the woman who was kidnapped by the Landlord.

The bathhouse curse is revealed by the Priest and within the Landlord’s journal inside Apartment 201. The curse began from the Landlord’s infatuation with Yoko. He deluded himself into believing she was in love with him. Fueled by jealousy of seeing Yoko with other men, the Landlord trapped Yoko in the basement until she “learnt” to love him. After leaving her for too long, Yoko died during childbirth (but the Landlord didn’t know she was pregnant). At the same time of this revelation, the Priest tells Maina that she is actually Erena, one of Yoko’s children.

As her screams haunt the bathhouse, the Landlord decided to take matters into his own hands and sacrifice Yoko’s children for his peace. However, as Yoko is an Ubume (a type of Yokai spirit), the sacrifices would only free her from the bathhouse’s confinement.

Unlike the original game that separated Erena and Maina into different characters, the Restored Edition adds a new twist that Erena and Maina are one and the same—and one of Yoko’s twins. This means that Erena and Toru were brought to the village to be sacrificed to Ubume (Yoko). This also confirmed that Yoko and Ubume are the same, linking all characters together in a more digestible way for the player, in contrast to the original.

The Bathhouse endings, summarized

Upon trying to leave the bathhouse, Erena is attacked by the Ubume and brought to a bloody version of the bathroom. Escaping the bathhouse only leads you to a flooded landscape drenched in red where Ubume will either jumpscare or let Erena go.

In the first ending, Erena is thrown out of this world and back into reality, tasked to run back to her apartment. The game ends inside the apartment, where hair fills the room as Ubume remains a persistent threat. The Landlord attacks and grabs Erena, taking her back to the bathhouse, and throws her into the boiler room to sacrifice her.

The Bathhouse has three endings. The other endings you can get reveal better fates for Erena, who can survive the Landlord’s sacrifice. Ubume would roam freely and continue her vengeance if either Toru or Ethena are sacrificed. The third and final ending gives Yoko peace, as she never wanted revenge to begin with. Toru and Erena survive, with the final scene showing the siblings driving away from the village.