Heartopia Player Builds Bathhouse Inspired by Studio Ghibli

A Heartopia fan built their home as the iconic bathhouse from Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away, surprising fellow players and anime fans. The free-to-play life-simulation title Heartopia has been available in China since 2024, but it made its much-anticipated global debut in early 2026. One of Heartopia’s main attractions is designing and building unique structures, which lets fans use their creativity. The game has also gathered an active community online, with players frequently sharing tips for decorating their homes.

Nearly two months after its global launch, Heartopia has seen a generally successful start in the cozy life-sim genre. The game surpassed one million downloads on mobile devices and achieved an all-time peak of over 66,000 concurrent players on Steam. There are many things players can do in Heartopia, like increasing their Development Guild level, completing NPC requests, and more. Heartopia also offers home customization, and while some players use this opportunity to build new designs from scratch, others choose to recreate iconic movie scenes. One fan decided to turn their home into one of the most famous buildings in anime.

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By Ollie Tuscarny

Heartopia Fan Builds Spirited Away-Inspired Bathhouse

Reddit user Weak_Razzmatazz2287 shared their Heartopia version of the bathhouse from Spirited Away, one of Studio Ghibli’s most memorable films. The player’s large build features a very similar structure to the movie’s location, including traditional Japanese roofs and wooden corridors. A front garden and a high balcony can also be seen. However, what is perhaps most impressive is the addition of hot springs, complete with water and rock walls. The user revealed that the build is still a work-in-progress, but the pictures already showcase incredible details.

Under the post, other Heartopia fans praised Weak_Razzmatazz2287’s creation and asked how they managed to add water to the build, since it is considered a very rare item. The player explained that they obtained it from the pools in the latest tree house banner from Heartopia’s gacha system. The pools don’t come with rock walls, though, but rather moss ones. For this reason, the fan built large pools and added smaller rock barriers inside them to simulate hot spring walls. Weak_Razzmatazz2287’s bathhouse also has crop fields, another nod to Spirited Away’s scenery.

It is common for life-sim fans to recreate their favorite moments from other media in games. One player built Red Dead Redemption 2’s Valentine town in Heartopia, recreating the sheriff’s office, the doctor’s office, and more. Heartopia is expected to keep releasing more furniture, blueprints, and other decorative items. With every new update, players will likely continue sharing more innovative custom builds, both original and inspired by other franchises. On the other hand, coming up with ingenious builds in Heartopia can be quite time-consuming. For example, one fan spent almost 10 hours customizing their dreamhouse in-game. Of course, part of the fun in life-simulation titles is the rewarding feeling that players get once they have completed their vision.

Some fans have pointed out that one flaw in Heartopia is its gacha system. The game’s banners let players obtain furniture items or outfits. However, players have claimed that Heartopia’s gacha is unfair and requires too many pulls to complete a set. For this reason, some fans find that the gacha system affects their possibilities to build to their heart’s desire. Despite this, Heartopia recently launched a My Little Pony event that is set to end on March 15. Players are able to pull for limited vehicles inspired by the TV show’s characters. The crossover with My Little Pony surprised some players, considering how the game is still new in Western territories. It will be interesting to see what Heartopia's next collaboration will be.