Love and Deepspace is a worldwide phenomenon. Earlier this year–and less than a year after its global release–the mobile dating game hit 50 million users. A few weeks later, it was reported that, after earning a record-breaking $61 million in December 2024 alone, Love and Deepspace had raked in $400 million in 2024. And yet I’d still argue that, in a sense, Infold’s hit title remains somewhat of a hidden gem.
It’s no secret that mobile games, dating sims, and games designed with a female audience in mind are often dismissed, and Love and Deepspace is no exception. As such, across my year of playing the game on and off, I’ve shocked multiple friends simply by showing them what it actually is. With its fast-paced combat, stunning visuals, deep sci-fi setting, and focus on delivering stories that delve into “seemingly negative emotions,” trauma, and uncomfortable subjects, Love and Deepspace shatters a lot of preconceived notions.
Love and Deepspace has challenged the preconceived notions of some of the developers, too. Following the release of Love and Deepspace’s wedding-themed July 3 update, Witnessed by Deepspace, I exchanged emails with the Infold team in which we discussed what it’s like designing a game with a female audience and mind. It turns out that working on the game has helped its male developers gain “progressively deeper insights into female player psychology.” It also sounds like Infold might also be willing to challenge players’ notions about what love is, and whether there are some lines–like killing off a love interest–the game won’t cross.
GameSpot: Romance games usually do not include combat, but the combat system is an inseparable part of Love and Deepspace. How does the combat system fit into this romance story, and enhance players’ love experience? How does the game’s new roguelike mode fit into this?
“Fighting side by side” was a crucial element in our game’s initial concept because we felt this encapsulates the essence of romantic relationships: two people facing life’s challenges together, growing together, and moving toward the future together.
Therefore, when designing the game, we built our gameplay mechanics and lore around this central idea. In this futuristic setting, players and their love interest face monsters called Wanderers that are from Deepspace. By battling these creatures, they gradually discover the mysteries of the world and unravel its challenges. During this process, their relationship grows through mutual support, which is a naturally occurring experience. In the game’s stories, combat and romance are indispensable. The bond built from fighting together and growing together will be stronger and more touching.
This update’s UNICORNS Operation is the third roguelike combat mode in our game. It follows up on the previous two iterations: Abyssal Chaos–Find Tobias and Abyssal Chaos–Final Farewell. Our players enjoyed these as well.
Each of our roguelike modes features unique progression and team composition mechanics that are designed to give players an entirely new, satisfying combat experience. In addition, UNICORNS Operation introduces exploration gameplay. Players can explore Tanakahli and speak to the island’s three factions. As they delve deeper into the investigation and approach the truth, they’ll discover new facets of his personality and create more memories with him. Whether it’s the cooperation during combat or joint exploration, both allow players to understand him better and gain special emotional experiences beyond the sweetness of daily interactions.
How does the team go about crafting emotional, high-stakes, and sometimes devastating stories while still ensuring that players feel comforted and happy while playing? Are there certain boundaries, such as killing off a love interest, that the team will not cross?
We center our creative work around the timeless themes of “characters” and “love,” but avoiding tragedies–through methods such as never letting a love interest die–isn’t a limit we set for ourselves.
In reality, love is an incredibly rich, multi-faceted, complex emotion. Sweetness and romance make up one aspect of what it could be. Seemingly negative emotions like pain, anger, sadness, and reluctance are integral to love. In certain moments, the tears and heartache make us fully aware of love’s presence.
During the creation process, we don’t shy away from depicting lovers’ quarrels, emotional conflicts, or even the loss of a loved one. These are challenges that everyone faces. When these stories appear, we prefer to seek out their deep connection with love, explore how love helps us face pain and conflict, gives us strength, and makes our hearts more resilient.
Aside from the expression of love, our approach to every detail, story, and line of dialogue is centered around the characters themselves. The game unveils the world of Love and Deepspace in a comprehensive manner. It conveys the events that unfold in Linkon City at one point in time. This means players will see a broader, more integrated picture of each character. While individual stories may contain tragic elements, these moments ultimately deepen the players’ connection to the characters. If players feel healed or satisfied after experiencing a story with tragic elements, then perhaps it’s because they embraced [their love interest’s] soul in that tale.
What inspired the team to launch a wedding-themed event? What is the inspiration behind each of the different wedding gowns and rings?
It’s been almost a year and a half since the game’s official release. We believe players have reached a certain stage in their emotional journey with their love interest. They’ve also created many wonderful memories in the game. For this milestone, we wanted to provide players with a grand ceremonial vow–a promise about love, an answer about happiness–which is why we chose the theme of “Witnessed by Deepspace.”
The formal wear for all five love interests, along with the matching dresses and rings, was designed around each character’s unique demeanor and emotional connections. These outfits feature thoughtful details:
Xavier’s design incorporates Wavyleaf Sea Lavender, star trails woven into galactic patterns, and other decorative elements. The overall aesthetic is dreamlike and dignified, reflecting his noble, refined elegance.
Rafayel’s outfit uses flame lilies, starfish, ocean waves, and fire-and-water motifs to represent a romance that’s tied to the ocean.
Zayne’s look features white jasmines, snowflake-cut diamonds, and frost-like embroidery to create a reserved, graceful temperament that’s rich in detail.
Sylus’s design draws inspiration from datura and fluttering feathers, creating a free-spirited aesthetic that expresses his mature, distinctive temperament.
Caleb’s ensemble takes black holes and paper cranes as its main sources of inspiration to emphasize destiny. For instance, the chain from his bow tie to his chest symbolizes the intertwining bonds of fate.
This update comes with a lot of new features, such as an upgraded AR companionship system, a journal module, cat adoption, and a new roguelike mode. What feature are you most excited for players to experience?
Picking one is very difficult. We believe all these features are important. For Love and Deepspace, excellent combat, companionship, and widgets crafted alongside our narrative are all part of enhancing the overall experience, so it’s hard for us to say which one is the best. What we can say for certain is that providing players with the best, most unique gaming experience has always been our cornerstone and goal. Because of this, we’ve put in a tremendous amount of effort and refinement into every feature.
Despite women being just as likely to play games as men, our demographic continues to be underserved or ignored by many studios. As such, Love and Deepspace serves a truly special and vital role in the industry. What is it like designing a game for a predominantly female player base?
Our objective has always remained the same: to create more immersive, visual experiences at a higher quality for players.
Your team seems to have a fantastic grasp on how to create stories and gameplay that appeal to young women so I am curious: What percentage of your team are women? Do the men who work on the game find they understand women better through their work on it?
We have quite a few female employees on our team. They’re involved in very important decision-making, and the male employees on the team have gained progressively deeper insights into female player psychology throughout the development process. The shared goal that all members have been working toward is to provide our players with a better game experience that’s full of respect and attention to detail.
In addition to the above questions, I asked the team about Love and Deepspace’s age rating in North America, storage-optimization issues, how they ensure each love interest gets equal treatment, the game’s gacha mechanics, and if the studio plans on bringing Love and Deepspace to PC. As of right now, the studio is not ready to publicly discuss these topics.
Interested players can download Love and Deepspace via Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store. The hit otome game is currently a month into its 4.0 update, Witnessed by Deepspace.
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