{"id":69033,"date":"2026-07-01T15:27:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T06:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=69033"},"modified":"2026-07-01T15:27:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T06:27:29","slug":"romance-rpg-love-and-deepspace-cancels-release-of-new-love-interest-mere-days-after-announcement-due-to-backlash-says-there-will-never-be-another-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/romance-rpg-love-and-deepspace-cancels-release-of-new-love-interest-mere-days-after-announcement-due-to-backlash-says-there-will-never-be-another-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Romance RPG Love and\u00a0Deepspace\u00a0cancels\u00a0release of new love interest\u00a0mere days after announcement due to\u00a0backlash,\u00a0says there will never be another one\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Love and\u00a0Deepspace<\/strong>\u00a0developer\u00a0Papergames\u00a0has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Love_Deepspace\/status\/2071927369653485756?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced<\/a>\u00a0the cancellation of Valko,\u00a0the previously\u00a0teased\u00a0sixth male\u00a0lead\u00a0and\u00a0love interest\u00a0for the popular otome\u00a0action RPG. Following\u00a0the character\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Love_Deepspace\/status\/2069020075986661392?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">official\u00a0announcement<\/a>\u00a0on June 22,\u00a0complaints from parts of the\u00a0playerbase\u00a0prompted the\u00a0devs\u00a0to cancel\u00a0Valko\u2019s\u00a0development\u00a0and forgo adding any new male leads to the game going\u00a0forward.\u00a0The\u00a0decision has been quite divisive, as many fans had been looking forward to the new character and even organizing\u00a0their\u00a0gacha finances in\u00a0preparation for his release.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Valko\u2019s announcement was met with resistance\u00a0from\u00a0some fans for several reasons. Some\u00a0believed\u00a0that his inclusion would push\u00a0the focus of\u00a0future content toward him\u00a0over\u00a0the\u00a0game\u2019s\u00a0existing\u00a0love interests\u00a0(some of which\u00a0have been experiencing a drought in\u00a0story\u00a0content\u00a0as of late). Chinese fans, in particular, criticized\u00a0Valko for everything from his appearance to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/cj.sina.com.cn\/articles\/view\/7880068207\/1d5b04c6f06801l96y?froms=ggmp&amp;utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">supposed allusions to human experimentation in World War 2<\/a>\u00a0(some of Valko\u2019s lore drops\u00a0were theorized to\u00a0reference\u00a0an infamous\u00a0Imperial\u00a0Japanese\u00a0Army\u00a0unit and war criminal, which Papergames has denied).\u00a0The character\u2019s act of breaking into the female protagonist\u2019s home\u00a0also\u00a0came\u00a0under scrutiny, as some\u00a0saw\u00a0it as\u00a0\u201ctrivializing\u00a0women\u2019s\u00a0safety for entertainment.\u201d\u00a0A few days after the announcement, the game\u2019s social media platforms lost\u00a0a good number\u00a0of\u00a0followers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Love and Deepspace | Valko: Chasing Night\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/q3F9dcorlsY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It seems\u00a0the backlash experienced by the developers was severe enough for them to not only cancel Valko \u2013 whose content had surely been\u00a0in development for a while\u00a0by the time he was announced\u00a0\u2013 but also\u00a0to announce there will be no new male leads coming to the Love and\u00a0Deepspace, which is quite drastic for a live-service game.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the company has promised several in-game items as recompense,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SuninDeepspace\/status\/2071930999022219388?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Valko fans<\/a>\u00a0who were eagerly awaiting his release are\u00a0upset\u00a0about the\u00a0cancellation\u00a0(there is even a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ipetitions.com\/p\/bring-back-valko-as-a-love-interest-as-it-was-intended\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">petition<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0have\u00a0him\u00a0be added\u00a0to\u00a0Love and\u00a0Deepspace).\u00a0Given that much of the negative backlash surrounding the character\u00a0seems to\u00a0come\u00a0from the Chinese fanbase, others suggest he be added\u00a0exclusively to the global servers, though it&#8217;s questionable whether this is a realistic option for the developers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Love and&nbsp;Deepspace&nbsp;is available&nbsp;on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.papegames.lysk.en&amp;hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Android<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/love-and-deepspace\/id6443467666\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">iOS<\/a>&nbsp;devices.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Related:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/column\/love-and-deepspace-is-designed-to-make-players-love-themselves-and-the-male-lead-more-producer-explains-the-romance-sims-unorthodox-design-choices-and-r\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Love and Deepspace is designed to \u201cmake players love themselves and the male lead more.\u201d Producer explains the romance sim\u2019s unorthodox design choices and rocky pre-launch history<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Papergames has cancelled the release of Love and Deepspace&#8217;s new male lead Valko, leaving players divided.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":69035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[{"did":"did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2","date":"2026-07-01T06:27:35+00:00","uri":"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mpkv6sjcu526","response":"{\"uri\":\"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mpkv6sjcu526\",\"cid\":\"bafyreifqajputpk4nhokvfydsm356sq2qmglavfz63v4hxyu7dglnylm4y\",\"commit\":{\"cid\":\"bafyreietzmndyeoof276b464tpime54c3j7ywm7taalmoifclq5ofiz5de\",\"rev\":\"3mpkv6sjjov26\"},\"validationStatus\":\"valid\"}"}],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-69033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-global-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Romance RPG Love and\u00a0Deepspace\u00a0cancels\u00a0release of new love interest\u00a0mere days after announcement due to\u00a0backlash,\u00a0says there will never be another one\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Papergames has cancelled the release of Love and Deepspace&#039;s new male lead Valko, leaving players divided.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/romance-rpg-love-and-deepspace-cancels-release-of-new-love-interest-mere-days-after-announcement-due-to-backlash-says-there-will-never-be-another-one\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Romance RPG Love 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