Love and Deepspace celebrated its first year this past January. The groundbreaking 3D otome game has taken the world by storm and has quickly become one of the most popular mobile otome games through its immersion, story, and gacha elements.
Immersive Experience
Love and Deepspace uses semi-realistic 3D modeling to appeal to players. The team at Infold programmed each of their characters to move and breathe like an actual person. The characters blink, blush, and breathe just like any other person. The tiniest details such as blemishes, musculature, and freckles are modeled for each character, making them appear as different people instead of a generic anime archetype.
The love interests text, call, and video call the players based on your affinity level with each character. Players can also set timers with each character to exercise or work alongside them. They can ask the characters to track their menstrual cycles or remind them to eat, sleep, and workout. We can also ask the characters to remind us about special events and appointments.
Main Story
The main story is still in its early stages. Players have been introduced to the five love interests in the past year. However, the story is disjointed and needs to be pieced together as the protagonist has been reincarnated multiple times and has history with each of the men in her life.
However, what players do know is that the protagonist in the main timeline is a Deepspace Hunter who dedicates her life to hunting creatures known as Wanderers. They also know she decided this after an accident that affected her heart when she was 7. As she begins her career, new and old friends enter her life as her journey as a Deepspace Hunter becomes much more complicated than it appears.
Game Events
The game has hosted a variety of events. The devs take this opportunity to experiment with events as they introduce new limited game modes. Throughout the year, we’ve had rhythm games, board games, puzzle games, and runner games as a part of events. These events coincide with holidays and allow players to earn rewards after they play the games and read the stories.
A Massive Cash Grab
As a gacha game, issues arise with each new banner. Sometimes it’s a solo banner, sometimes it’s a banner with all of the love interests. I, and many other players, have panicked after blowing through their savings on a cute singular banner only to be hit with the preview of a jaw-dropping banner with the entire cast a few days later. While I have never bought anything in this game, I have friends that have spent hundreds of dollars for cards.
While you don’t need every single card to get through the story and gameplay, there’s an incentive to pull for each card. Each card has stories that add layers to the character’s relationship with each of the men in the game.
It also doesn’t help that the game makes grinding for pulls extremely tedious. The game is very stingy with its rewards, making players wonder how money hungry the game is. I have to do three days of dailies to get a singular pull. There are multiple game modes, so I also run the risk of my phone exploding from overheating. There’s only so much a phone can withstand with a game as heavy as this.
While Love and Deepspace is a gacha, sometimes too much is too much. The events do allow players to earn a 10-pull. However, a 10-pull is rarely enough. For a free-to-play player, obtaining those cards depends on the player’s priorities, their stored gems, and gacha RNG. For one card, the cost can be anywhere between 5 cents and $140. In a banner with the entire cast, the cost can be up to $1,400 if the player loses their 50/50 each time.
The Future
As the game’s main story is still in its preliminary stage, players have a lot to look forward to. Questions about the main story, paired with all the other stories with each character, ensures interest in the game’s future. However, I can see the game falling off if the devs do not make it more friendly for free-to-play players to avoid frustration.
Love and Deepspace is available on iOS and Android.
