Falling into Love and Deep Space

If you are an otome lover, you should be playing the latest addition to this genre Love and Deep Space (LaD), developed by the very same people who brought you Mr Love: Queen’s Choice, i.e. Paper Games. I have to admit that I learnt about LaD from a new pen friend I got to know from playing The Ssum. They have this really cool feature where you can actually chat with real people one to one. After trying for several rounds, I finally found a great match in the sense that we both are crazy over otome games. She told me about this upcoming launch and when I first saw the trailer, I was like… is this Final Fantasy 7? If you have ever fantasised about dating Sephiroth, then you should definitely play this game.

LaD was launched globally on January 18 2024 with a big bang. They took over 3D screen installations in New York, Tokyo, Changsha and Keelung and they even got Sarah Brightman (think Phantom of the Opera) to sing the game’s theme song. There is definitely some big budget going into making this game a hit. When I think that this game is brought to you by the people who made Mr Love, I have mixed feelings. I LOVE Mr Love – all the characters and the very strong story plots. So when I learnt that LaD is an extension of the same world where people have Evol, I was really excited to see what they will bring to the table this time.

However there are definitely areas where Mr Love had failed compared to other otome games that came after them. Firstly their events are quite basic and are usual gacha traps to make players spend money to pull for new karmas. Having played Lovebrush Chronicles by Netease, I realised that Paper Games have really been sloppy in this aspect. I don’t think that events need to be as elaborate as how Tears of Themis does them but definitely more content is necessary to make players feel like they are getting something worthwhile from the money they invest in the game.

Secondly after the hooha over the sacking of English voice actors, the closure of the Southeast Asia server with almost neglible compensation, and the eventual removal of all voice acting from Mr Love, I have to say that Paper Games left their players with a sour taste in their mouth. Much as I love the game, it is quite hard to stomach such treatment from the game company. Which is why I come into LaD with lots of anticipation and pinch of salt.

So with enough background about Paper Games, the developer of LaD, let’s dive straight into the game play itself.

I think the immediate impression I got from this game is … is this even an otome? It has really transcended my expectations of this genre and made me wonder aloud, how has this genre has grown and expanded over the last 10 years. From the time of flat 2D men with no voice acting, to realistic CGI 3D men with full on voice acting blows my mind. When I found out later that the main game mechanics isn’t just about collecting and levelling up cards to win battles on paper, but a full on real time action game, my mouth literally dropped. The battles remind me of domain battles in Genshin Impact where you hack and slash, dodge attacks, time skill activations and release ultimates with your partner to take down hordes of Wanderers (mobs in this game. Are they being cheeky here??).

What’s more you also have diverse customisation options that best suit your fighting style. Choose to have Xavier (sword), Zayne (arts) or Rayfael (daggers) accompany you into battle, each of them with their unique Evol support skills. You can also decide on your weapon of choice ranging from guns, sword, claymore to wand depending on your preference for damage speed and power. Lastly, reminscience of Genshin Impact, you will also need to farm for Protocore to equip on your partners to boost various statistics (think artifacts in Genshin Impact). All these seem overly excessive for an otome game where the focus is on plot and romance with characters. How far gone are we.

However I am not saying that I don’t enjoy this. Having played Genshin Impact for more than 2 years, this is indeed a welcome treat for me, marrying my love for deep story, beautiful characters and interesting game play via this real time action mechanics. However I’m not sure if it’s a welcome treat for ALL otome gamers because sometimes you just want it pretty casual. Being able to complete increasingly difficult battles in order to progress the story may not be something that appeals to everyone especially if they aren’t familiar with this type of fighting.

Another aspect of the game is how they have introduced so many different elements into the game to entice you to actually spend time with your potential love interests and fall completely in love with them through dates, phone calls, interacting with them (tap, swipe, press and hold), dressing them up, decorating your desk, taking photos, playing cards and claw machines together, in addition to taking on different type of battles to level up your prowess. There’s really so much you can do with them now.

Although the game has tried to ease players into the various elements gradually (i.e. new feature every few levels), it does still feel quite overwhelming once you have them altogether. I guess the developers want players to never leave the game… but I think we would actually appreciate the features being introduced gradually as the game matures rather than being thrown altogether in the launch. I mean if you already have so much going, what else is there to offer say 6 months down the road to keep bringing your players back? Now I almost have unrealistic expectations for their first event.

Moving on to the storyline. As the MC, you have just passed the selection test to be a Unicorns hunter – fighters with Evol who have been tasked to eliminate Wanderers who threaten the safety and peace of Linkon City. The backstory of who, what, where, when, why and how this futuristic world in 2046 came about is slowly dripped as you progress through the main storyline. Because there are so many new terms associated with this world you are flung into, as a player, you are pretty much forced to read the wikipedia contained within the game to understand what’s happening. It’s not bad… but I would much rather have these things weaved into the story itself. Otherwise I can imagine players who don’t read up might feel like the whole plot is rather disjointed and hard to follow.

The story progresses through stages which are delivered to you in high definition first person CGI which I have absolutely no complains about. It is almost like watching a movie itself. I think the developers may have outdone themselves in this aspect. I give them 10 thumbs up for it if I had that many thumbs. Nonetheless, because so much effort has gone into creating such an immersive virtual reality experience, I feel like it has caused storytelling to take a slight backseat. If I were to compare the depth of content between Mr Love and LaD in each chapter, it would be in the ratio of 2:1. Completing each chapter engrosses you in the animation and graphics, but it comes up relatively short in terms of story and character development. On the bright side, it means Papergames have many many chapters to produce to actually complete their story.

Lastly, let’s dive into the love interests which is really the soul of any otome games. There are three love interests at launch but I don’t think we are closed off to the possiblity of a fourth or even fifth character since there is this suspicious ‘Coming soon’ text in the character selection screens. Visually, they are absolutely stunning. I think this is the first time I play an otome where I cannot decide which of the three characters I like best based on their looks.

Xavier spots greyish white hair, blue eyes and a rather boyish look even though his age is a large ??? for us. He seems to be a traveller who have transcended time and space. He is a fellow hunter who partners up with you to take on missions. If I were to assign a personality type to him, I would say a mix of Gavin and Kiro. He is very very cute when it comes to day to day mundane stuff but takes on a much more mature protector stance when he’s on field fighting mobs with you. His Evol is light.

Zayne has black hair with dual color eyes tone – greenish with yellow hues. You can get absolutely lost staring into them so I warn you against it. He is your childhood friend but both of you lost contact for many years untill he finds his way into your life again as your primary care doctor. Dr Zayne is a workaholic and very quiet and serious man but as you get to know him better, you realise he has a rather dry sense of humor. I would say he is a mix of Victor and Lucien in terms of personality. His Evol is ice.

Rayfael spots wavy purple hair with matching dual color tone eyes which are purple and pink. It is immediately apparent that he is the supposed flirt who is meant to sweep you off your feet with his artistic flair and charms. As a well renowned artist, Rayfael finds himself in need of a bodyguard to protect him from being the target of some nefarious plot. I would say he is a mix of Shaw and Lucien in terms of personality in this aspect but Marius from Tears of Themis would be the closest fit. His Evol is fire.

I have only completed Chapter 4 out of 8 available chapters in the launch and I have to say I am a bit disappointed in the character development thus far. I think I have gleamed much more about my love interests through the various date plots than the main story itself which actually affects the game play in my opinion. I don’t even know much about their backstory, how they relate to me and how they will eventually support or betray me and yet I’m already thrown into dates with them which assumes a certain level of familiarity. It’s quite unnerving for me as I haven’t managed to get a good feel of their personalities. Well I just hope more of this comes as I progress into the story.

Anyway if I am forced at this point to rank the three love interests in terms of preference, I would say Zayne, Xavier then Rayfael. Quite surprising since I recently realised that I tend to gravitate towards flirty characters in otome. But in this case Zayne’s beautiful eyes (oh my goodness, they make me blush looking at them!), his sexy accent and witty dry humor won out. Xavier is a very close second because he’s just so adorably cute. I don’t like cute guys typically but this one just… you know what just take my heart. And perhaps because of the realism of visuals, a flirty guy like Rayfael actually comes on too strong for me. Which is why he ended up in third place. I guess visuals does play a part in the end.

So how would I rate LaD as a whole based on first impressions? 9/10 Everything is amazing! I am giving it the benefit of doubt about the story and character development for now since we have a long long way to go to discover all those this game and its universe has to offer. But from a visual, audio, game mechanics and features perspective, LaD is transformational in the genre of otome games and I think I’m going to be stuck here for quite some time. I’m sorry The Ssum, Lovebrush Chronicles and Twisted Wonderland, you’re going to all have to take a back seat for a while.