Love and Deepspace Devs Respond to Player Complaints That Their Dark-Skinned Custom Characters Are Invisible in Cutscenes

Love and Deepspace has been retired for astir 2 years now, but its playerbase is increasing progressively exasperated implicit a persistent contented impacting players with dark-skinned customized main characters: their characters are virtually invisible.

If you're unfamiliar with Love and Deepspace, it's an otome crippled developed by Chinese workplace Papergames and published globally by Infinity Nikki developer Infold Games. Love and Deepspace is unsocial successful that it's a 3D otome crippled with enactment RPG elements, wherever players tin physique relationships with 5 antithetic imaginable emotion interests portion besides warring disconnected abstraction monsters. But the romanticist elements are the large draw, with ocular caller segments and highly detailed, afloat animated cutscenes betwixt the subordinate character, oregon MC, and their emotion interest, presented arsenic gameplay rewards.

Love and Deepspace has present been retired since January 2024, astir 2 years. It's been wildly palmy during that time, too, with implicit 50 cardinal players worldwide arsenic of 2025. It won Best Mobile Game astatine Gamescom this year, and has been praised for its affirmative code toward women and their needs successful relationships. Admittedly, Love and Deepspace isn't precisely a pioneer connected the diverseness front: there's lone 1 assemblage benignant disposable for the MC, and each the disposable emotion interests are light-skinned. But determination are a assortment of customization options for the MC's looks, including aggregate darker tegument tones. It's a diagnostic which hasn't historically been a communal 1 successful otome games, and which has helped players with darker tegument make MCs that they consciousness correspond them successful the romanticist scenarios the crippled presents.

But ever since its release, players person been reporting issues with the game's lighting causing MCs with darker tegument tones to look weirdly shadowed, oregon occasionally go wholly invisible during definite cutscenes. The complaints spell backmost to the motorboat of the crippled and are inactive being posted arsenic precocious arsenic this week, and they each look thing similar this:

Thank you @Love_Deepspace for giving america darker tegument players NO LIGHTING successful this caller card😒 pic.twitter.com/innx60E7et

— MadameSynclair (@MoonkissedMuse) October 11, 2025

That's, uh, beauteous bad! The contented isn't accordant crossed each cutscene and varies depending connected tegument tone, but the communal origin is that players whose MCs person darker tegument tones ne'er know, erstwhile a caller update is released, if their characters volition beryllium disposable successful the cutscenes oregon not. Players experiencing this contented accidental they've reported it to Infold galore times, and recently, IGN received a tiny flood of submissions to its tips email aliases from players upset astir the issue. Until now, Infold hasn't said thing astir the contented astatine all. But erstwhile IGN reached retired for comment, Infold provided the pursuing statement:

At Infold Games, we’ve ever believed that our games are shaped unneurotic with the players who emotion them. The community’s feedback, discussions, and originative passionateness are what support Love and Deepspace evolving and alive.We’ve seen the conversations and genuinely worth everyone who has taken the clip to stock their experiences and thoughts. Every comment, whether it’s astir visuals, storytelling, oregon representation, helps america amended recognize however our enactment resonates crossed antithetic perspectives and cultures.Love and Deepspace is, astatine its heart, a shared satellite of emotion and imagination. We anticipation to support gathering it manus successful manus with our players, learning and improving unneurotic on the way.

Love and Deepspace players are understandably frustrated by this issue. After all, the crippled has explicitly been promoted by the institution for its highly in-depth method achievements successful getting each item of the characters to consciousness real: hair, skin, clothing, everything. It would beryllium 1 happening if this was a one-time contented with 1 paper that was rapidly fixed. But aft 2 years and perfectly nary acknowledgement, players with darker tegument are linking the occupation to long-time issues successful games with racism and colorism. Even if it's not intentionally malicious, they say, it each goes backmost to developers prioritizing making definite achromatic tegument tones look good, and lone throwing successful darker tegument tones arsenic an afterthought, without taking attraction to marque definite they look conscionable arsenic nice. As 1 player, StarPop, enactment it eloquently connected Twitter backmost successful May:

"In history, dating games has been acceptable wherever it was conscionable a fair/pale Mc and black/brown players don't put successful playing the crippled due to the fact that they don't spot themselves. For us, we are seeing idiosyncratic other oregon pretending to beryllium idiosyncratic we're not. Because of racism and colorism, airy tegument meant quality arsenic acheronian tones meant dirty, disgusting, unlovable conscionable due to the fact that they don't 'fit the quality standard'. With dating games that doesn't suggest tegument code variation, it's different mode of telling america that we aren't worthy of emotion nor attention. For games that's expected to correspond you falling successful emotion and being treated reasonably due to the fact that the emotion interests emotion you for who you are, it excluded galore imaginable players owed to it. When Love and Deepspace came out, black/brown players got into it and it felt similar eden that the MCs tegument code tin change."

In history, dating games has been acceptable wherever it was conscionable a fair/pale Mc and black/brown players don't put successful playing the crippled due to the fact that they don't spot themselves. For us, we are seeing idiosyncratic other oregon pretending to beryllium idiosyncratic we're not. Because of racism and colorism, airy skin-

— StarPop (@StarPop_Arts) May 20, 2025

"Not decently lighting america fundamentally tells america black/brown players that they don't attraction capable to consistently and decently airy america up," wrote StarPop aboriginal successful the thread. "Just doing lighting connected a default mc erstwhile you implemented antithetic tones doesn't enactment due to the fact that not everyone has the aforesaid tegument tone."

StarPop's thread is conscionable 1 person's experience, but it reflects dozens of different comments from non-white players and contented creators that person popped up crossed societal media connected Twitter, Reddit, Discord, YouTube, TikTok, and different platforms implicit the past 2 years. Unfortunately, galore of the comments precocious person begun despairing of determination ever being a hole to this issue. Though the assemblage is inactive encouraging players to study the contented to Infold during subordinate surveys, it's without immoderate existent anticipation of change:

"I astir made a station astir this but realized it wasn't worthy getting my oregon anyone else's hopes up," wrote 1 Reddit idiosyncratic successful a reply to different station connected the taxable from 3 days ago. "Not saying radical should springiness up campaigning that they hole it (not adjacent marque acheronian tegument MCs look perfect, conscionable VISIBLE), but with the complexity of the lightning and the information that they couldn't adjacent beryllium bothered to alteration the shading connected the injuries successful Edge of Continuum (my MC's "scratches" look similar she tried to use the incorrect foundation, THERE ARE ONLY LIKE 5 SKIN COLORS BRO, COME ON), I'm resigning myself to having to taxable different bug study that my MC looks similar a shadiness idiosyncratic and conscionable enjoying the paper arsenic overmuch arsenic I can.

"And if by immoderate occurrence they really addressed it and it looks decent, I volition springiness InFold each past prop successful my arsenal. All the props, consecutive to their inbox."

Rebekah Valentine is simply a elder newsman for IGN. You tin find her posting connected BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a communicative tip? Send it to [email protected].