It is a Chinese video game where you choose your own “digital husband”

If the same videos appear in Booktok With the same recommendations over and over again and you are running out of patience waiting for the launch date of Sarah J. Maas’s new book, the answer is not between the pages, if not on your mobile screen: the Otome video game ”Love and Deepspace‘He wants to be your next “novel.”

Do not be scared, if you are new and you need a break of the special editions and the colored songs, you have to know that this term of games, The Otomedefine the contents that are aimed at a mostly female audience. His games are very popular in particular among the Asian audience; Not in vain the etymology of the word leads us to Japan. In them, according to the decisions you make, and after living various adventures, you develop a love relationship with one of the characters.

The catalog within this genre is very extensive and has gained traction in recent times. But the truth is that ‘Love and Deepspace.’created in 2024 by the Chinese developer Infold Gamesmove masses globally. In his first weeks he exceeded the 15 million downloadshe got 55 million dollars in benefits in a month and after his first year of life he reached the whopping number of 50 million players worldwide.

The formula of the success of ‘Love and Deepspace’

The numbers are overwhelming, and therefore it is worth stopping to look for the keys to their success. There are several factors that have contributed to the fame of ‘Love and Deepspace’. First, its story is not based on a single character, but has several temporal lines and a puzzle structure that the player will have to complete during his game time. Although we will not have to read descriptions of objects such as ‘Elden Ring’, we are facing a FROMSOFTWARE STYLE Frame narrative.

The protagonist is you, a Novata hunter whose task will consist of exploring and protecting the population that inhabits Lincoln City from the “wandering” ‘Last of us‘). Your main ability is to amplify the power of other characters during the battles, hence the relevance of meeting Xavier, Zayne, Sylus, Rafayel or Caleb (your different love interests in the game) to develop different stories and increase the affinity with each of them.

First of all, Infold’s game is a romance story with the perfect dose of fantasy and science fiction. And how do you know that your target audience comes For the narrativeone of the reasons that help the title to obtain users is its mechanical accessibility. The battles acquire a secondary character and you can, without problem, focus your departure at the points you prefer. Although it is a fighting focused on very colorful special skills, it is witnessing the relative importance of “playing well” that there is a function for fights to be played alone, automatic mode through.

As a good game as a service, the additional chapters that the creators provide to continue the story are not lacking. And all this with a lot of events designed to have fun in various ways, because the possibilities offered by the game are quite wide: sections dedicated to winning rewards in different types of battles, miniguegos that change every season and that can get closer to Chinese culture, a menu dedicated to taking out solo or couple photos with an endless personalization, quotes with the character of our choice … that always play before sleeping.

Your destiny is to connect with them

The design of the male characters is, at least, exhaustive. While they fall into a superficiality and galloping regulations in terms of physical design, we have to say that each one has a personality full of nuances with a very worked history. It is impossible not to differentiate Caleb, Rafayel, Zayne, Xavier or Sylus. The female audience is totally delivered to these “Husbondes” (digital husbands), especially in China, where shopping centers are wallowed with the faces of each and fans sides are formed as that of that team Edward vs Team Jacob of the millennial generation.

They defend their romantic interest unreserved, sometimes creating connections with the game quite extreme: “I can show myself as I am and he will show me his love without reservations” or “everyone has their secrets, some you cannot tell others, but when you open the game, you can talk to it” are some of the statements of Chinese players of ‘Love and Deepspace’.

The mechanics and progression of the game is simple, you must get certain letters (called “memories”) that They will unlock additional content To interact and allow you to have quotes with your favorite characters. Here an extra game tactics are added Free to play With micropagos, since the factor Fomo It is that some memories will only be temporarily available during an event.

Thanks to unlocking this content you can learn more about that romantic link and weave the network of different temporal lines. Here also influences each user’s way of playing, since although you can focus only on a “boyfriend”, some people choose to cover something else. If you can’t choose between Zayne’s sweet character, and Sylus, the bad of the movie, you will have to handle your resources well and think well who you want to unlock more content.

In that unusual, but effective, amalgam of magic, appointments, temporary lines and combat also includes the least positive aspect of this style of games, Phacha microtransactions. We are talking about an evolution of the mechanics of loot boxes that have been reviewing so long European regulatory bodies and that force you to go through a random catwalk to unlock content. You may want an appointment with a character, but for this you better save enough amount of currencybecause you will not be able to buy it directly; What you can acquire are thrown to a lottery where your favorite item has a small probability of appearing.

While it is not necessary, nor does the game force you to spend money to advance in the main story, there are many aesthetic and secondary aspects that are very complicated to achieve if you only add the resources that the game provides you for free to improve the memories of your favorite characters.

‘Love and Deepspace’ is very clear who your audience is

If there was any doubt of the type of target that Infold interpens, it was completely cleared on June 22 thanks to an update. At all times the game allowed you to interact with the characters unlocking options according to the degree of affinity you had with them. From having it as a company for style study Lofi Girl Or while you train, until you select different dialogue options to “talk” about how you have spent the day.

To this extensive content, with the new update, the “remind me” option was added. Here Zayne, Caleb, Sylus, Xavier or Rafayel will remind you of important quotes from your calendar, even highlighting a function of Monitoring of your menstruation. The players (completely optional) can introduce the dates of their period in real life and romantic interest that selections will notify you when your next cycle is approaching as well as advice to cope with it.

This tool is implemented with great scientific rigor, since the creators They consulted gynecologists Of some of China’s most prestigious hospitals to verify the information related to the menstruation shown in the game, also supervising the messages of support and advice that they provide. And, although it may sound strange, it does not stop functioning as Many other apps that incorporate into their daily lives the people who menstruate. In this case, eliminating that aseptic touch and adding that emotional support.

Booktok It has competition

It is therefore clear to whom ‘Love and Deepspace’ is heading, but if you had never heard anything about this game, you are an avid reader of the community Booktok And you queue to buy the new novel of Rebecca Yarrosyou have to try this Otome.

The character Romantasy He is secured and add another point in his favor: you don’t have to stick to one of the numerous tropes of the genre. If your favorite is the subgenre WHY CHOOSE (Tropo in which a protagonist finds his happy ending with several suitors instead of one) this game is definitely yours, but you will also fall into this addiction if you like the Fake Dating (false relationship), Best Friends to Lovovers (best friends to lovers), Enemies to lovers (Enemies to lovers)… ‘Love and Deepspace’ provides microhistories that cover all these options.

Another aspect that has captivated the entire public but that can also hook the readers, is their quality in The visual section. You don’t need to do FANCAST of your favorite characters or that you imagine the scenarios. The level of detail and quality with its 3D visual effects is overwhelming and the effort is obvious to create film quality kinematics.

It doesn’t matter if it started as an asatic phenomenon, its success is already global and aspires to continue growing. This is what its developers see it: “Our conclusion was that when a game reaches a high level of quality and offers an exceptional user experience, it can overcome cultural borders (..) With this conviction, we set out to create the final romantic experience (…) After all, we firmly believe that love does not know cultural limits.”

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