Fighting Monsters With My 5 Fake Boyfriends

As one of the 50+ million players of the video game Love and Deepspace, I gained superpowers and found romance. Could this be the solution to dating-app fatigue?

- By TAMARA FUENTES

Last year, I saw an ad on Tik Tok for Love and Deepspace, a story-based, or otome (“maiden game” in Japanese), dating simulation game. It follows a customizable female main character—aka you, the player—who has lived dozens of lifetimes in a futuristic world full of monsters. The twist? As you try to figure out what's happened in your many lives, you encounter five guys you've had romantic connections with in the past. You go on dinner dates turned steamy encounters, flirt over text messages, and, at one point, even fight battles with these men.

Thanks to aggressive marketing on social media and some sexy billboards in hot spots like New York City’s Times Square, the video game, launched in January 2024, has become one of the biggest in the world. Its creator, Infold Games, claims that 50 million people signed up to play in the first year, leading to some staggering sums. Love and Deepspace is free to play, but users have the option to pay for extras and competitive advantages, and as of June 2025, they'd collectively spent $650 million in the game, according to data insights firm Sensor Tower.

It's easy to see why. From the moment I downloaded it, I was hooked. The main character (now me, with an avatar that mirrors my appearance) and her five boyfriends are soulmates. And even when said boyfriends end up in cages because they've been affected by a disease that makes them sexually feral, they retain their loyal and loving characteristics. There are no hassles in figuring out where the relationships stand. The hard parts of falling in love are gone.