Over the long Lunar New Year weekend, I caved into the marketing and installed Love and Deepspace on my phone. The goal was to relax and pass the time, and what would be more distracting than the newest otome mobile game everyone’s been talking about? But what laid in store far exceeded my expectations.
Developed by Singapore-based InFold, Love and Deepspace is set in a world where humanity has received its first message from Deepspace. With the arrival of this cosmic message, creatures called Wanderers appeared and began attacking humans. Thus, the Deepspace Hunter was born.
You play as the newest member of the Hunters Association, where your job is to protect citizens from the threat of Wanderers. Along the way, you meet many interesting characters including Xavier, a mysterious hunter, Rafayel, a passionate artist, and Zayne, a talented cardiac surgeon.
Developed by: InFold
Played on: iOS (Version 17.3.1)
As Good As It Looks In Its Marketing
Love and Deepspace first gained attention for its beautiful 3D graphics and detailed character customisation, although its advertising may have looked a little too good to be true. That makes me even happier to report that the game looks as good as advertised, especially its interactive first-person cutscenes that make it stand out among the rest.
Its character creation is definitely above average in terms of mobile games, and is a significant step up from the brown-haired, pale-skinned main character that we’re all used to playing in otome games. Not only does Love and Deepspace have plenty of face types and hairstyles to choose from, there’s even detailed customisation for most things including the pitch of your character’s voice. I still wouldn’t compare it to a fully fledged character creation system, but it’s nice to have extra options.
One thing veteran otome gamers will notice immediately is the few number of male leads, where most games will usually have four or more. In Love and Deepspace, there are only three romance options: the boyish and mysterious Xavier, the responsible doctor Zayne, and the flirtatious artist Rafayel. Personally, I’m not a picky player but some may have to settle for a character that isn’t quite perfect for them.
Combat In The Streets, Romance In The Sheets
You’d never imagine that a game like Love and Deepspace would have a comprehensive battle system, but here we are. The game boasts real-time combat with different weapon types and skill combinations based on which boyfriend you bring into battle and which outfit he wears (no kidding). Besides allowing you to build your team to your specific preferences, you might also find certain weapons and team builds are better against certain enemies.
Additionally, character cards are the backbone of your team’s stats and they come in six colour variations, also known as Stellactrum. Matching the same coloured Memory and Photofield Stellactrum gives you a massive damage buff in the coming battle. Character cards also need to be levelled up regularly so you can challenge tougher enemies. As you can imagine, that’s where the card gacha system comes into play in a big way.
If you’re into the combat, like I am, there are plenty of battle modes to try out. Bounty Hunt and Core Hunt are game modes that drop resources required to upgrade your team, while Deepspace Trial and Hunter Contest are challenges that put your combat skills to the test. But if combat isn’t your cup of tea, rest assured that most battles can be easily won, as long as your character cards meet the minimum level requirements.
But don’t forget that combat is only half of the game! The other half is a mixture of story content and various mini games. Among these, the Main Story and Falling For You sections are easily the strongest parts of the game. Main Story has an interesting plot that cuts the fluff and fillers, and there are plenty of interactive first-person cutscenes complete with full voice acting. Meanwhile, Falling For You are companion specific stories that are bound to get your heart racing, although you can only unlock them by owning 5-star character cards.
There are several other story modes and mini games which are decent, but don’t particularly stand out. By Your Side are audio-only experiences with no interactivity and Anecdotes are short stories without any voice acting. They do provide some backstory for the male leads though, so that’s a plus point. The Playtime mini games like Claw Machine and Kitty Cards are by far the weakest parts of the game, as they’re generally repetitive and unexciting.
F2P-Friendly Resource Management
When it comes to mobile gacha games, there’s only one question on everyone’s minds: Is it free-to-play friendly? Having played the game for over a week now, Love and Deep Space feels friendlier than most. Most if not all battle modes grant resources to upgrade your cards, and you can even earn Wish tickets (or gacha tickets) by completing weekly and story quests. You can also convert Diamonds into Wish tickets, and Diamonds are the most common drop in the entire game.
In exchange, there are certain items in the game that can only be obtained by spending money such as new outfits (or lack of outfits— if you get what I mean) for the male leads. However, they are mostly decorative items that don’t grant any gameplay perks except for differences in ult animations during combat. For a F2P player like me, that’s a pretty reasonable deal.
Well-Paced For A Long Term Experience
It’s clear that Love and Deepspace is a game that plans to be around for awhile. Even after the initial adrenaline rush from the first week of gameplay, there’s plenty of content left to explore in the game — albeit at a more leisurely pace. The game keeps things well-balanced enough that you can’t speed run the entire game in a few days, but it also doesn’t feel like it is forcing you to spend money to speed up the process.
There is also some freshness thanks to the Core Hunt and Deepspace Trial game modes, which are split into three or four “hunts” that rotate throughout the week. For example, certain hunts are available on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, while other hunts are available on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
As long as they keep updating the game regularly, including more limited-time events like their Valentine’s Day celebration, I can definitely see Love and Deepspace becoming one of the must-play otome mobile games of this year.
Verdict: The Next Otome Mobile Game To Watch
If you’re an otome game fan, Love and Deepspace is definitely worth checking out. Interactive first-person cutscenes and beautiful 3D graphics are the game’s main highlight, but it also boasts a surprisingly comprehensive and fun battle system. Most importantly, the game is F2P-friendly with plenty of game modes to keep things fresh. With over 10 million downloads globally, the bigger question is “why haven’t you downloaded it yet?”
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