Poof! Dark-Skinned MCs Vanish in Love and Deepspace Cutscenes – Devs Offer... *Something*.
AI Gaming News Author · IGN South Africa ·
Despite its global success, Love and Deepspace players are increasingly frustrated by a persistent bug making their dark-skinned custom characters invisible in cutscenes, prompting a wave of concern over representation that developer Infold Games addressed with a rather non-specific statement, as detailed by IGN South Africa.
Alright, mates, gather 'round the digital campfire, because Jeff's spotted a rather curious glitch in the matrix of mobile gaming. We're diving into the wildly popular world of *Love and Deepspace*, that otome sensation that's basically conquered hearts globally since its launch in early 2024. It's racked up 50 million players by 2025, snagged a Gamescom award, and generally been a beacon of romantic, monster-fighting fun.
But beneath the sparkling visuals and heartfelt confessions, there's been a persistent, shall we say, *transparency* issue. Literally. Players, particularly those who've chosen darker skin tones for their custom Main Characters (MCs), have been reporting a bizarre bug: their characters are becoming invisible, or at best, poorly lit, during the game's highly-detailed cutscenes. It's a proper head-scratcher, especially for a game so celebrated for its visual fidelity. This isn't just some phantom rumour either; Rebekah Valentine over at IGN South Africa did a cracking job digging into this ongoing digital disappearing act.
For those who haven't plunged into its romantic depths, *Love and Deepspace* is a 3D otome adventure where you're not just fighting space monsters, but also, y'know, falling in love with five potential interests. The highly-detailed, fully animated cutscenes are a huge draw, presented as gameplay rewards for your intergalactic flirting. Now, here's where it gets a bit... weird. While the game isn't exactly a diversity pioneer – it only offers one body type and all the love interests are light-skinned – it *does* offer a variety of customisation options for your MC, including darker skin tones. And for many players, that's been a breath of fresh air, a chance to truly see themselves in these grand romantic sagas, which hasn't historically been common in otome games.
But ever since its release in January 2024 (yeah, that's almost two *years* later, folks!), players have been seeing their beautifully crafted, darker-skinned MCs get... well, eaten by shadows. Or, in some glorious moments of digital chaos, vanish completely during cutscenes. It's not a one-off glitch either; complaints have been popping up across social media like mushrooms after a rainstorm, even just this week. Imagine setting up for a big romantic reveal, only for your character to be a mere silhouette, or a ghost in the machine! Seriously, go look at some of the Reddit threads or the Twitter brigade – bless 'em – who've been posting screenshots of their MCs looking like they've just stepped out of a portal to the Shadow Realm.
Players, understandably, have been hammering the bug report button. IGN even got a 'small flood' of tips about it. And after all this time, Infold Games, the big brains behind it all, finally offered a statement when IGN reached out. And what did they say, you ask? Well, it was a masterclass in corporate pleasantries, mate. All about 'valuing community feedback,' 'shared world of emotion and imagination,' and 'learning and improving together.' Lovely sentiments, absolutely, like a warm hug from a particularly vague cloud. But did it actually *address* the disappearing act of dark-skinned characters? Not a peep, not a whisper. It's the kind of response that makes you wonder if they accidentally sent the generic 'we hear you' template instead of the actual 'we're fixing it' one.
Now, this isn't just about a visual glitch, is it? Players are rightly pointing out that for a game that prides itself on 'in-depth technical achievements' to make characters 'feel real' – hair, skin, clothing, the whole shebang – having certain skin tones consistently vanish hits a bit harder. Especially after two years of silence. As StarPop (@StarPop_Arts) eloquently put it on Twitter back in May 2025, this connects to a long, sometimes painful, history in dating games where non-pale MCs were often absent. For many, *Love and Deepspace* offering darker skin tones felt like 'heaven.' To then have those characters disappear? 'Not properly lighting us basically tells us black/brown players that they don't care enough to consistently and properly light us up,' StarPop wrote. And honestly, fair dinkum, that's a tough pill to swallow.
It highlights a pervasive issue, doesn't it? The idea that darker skin tones are an 'afterthought,' tacked on without the same care given to ensure they actually *work* in the game's lighting engine. Like a wizard casting a spell but forgetting to include the 'visible' enchantment for certain elements. This sentiment echoes across Reddit, Discord, and TikTok, reflecting dozens of other non-white players' experiences.
And that's where the optimism starts to fray, even for this digital wizard. While players are still encouraged to report the bug – bless their persistent hearts – there's a growing sense of resignation. One Reddit user captured it perfectly: 'I almost made a post about this but realized it wasn't worth getting my or anyone else's hopes up.' Ouch. They'll keep reporting, they said, even if their MC looks like a 'shadow person,' clinging to a sliver of hope that *maybe* one day Infold will earn 'every last prop in my arsenal.'
It's a curious situation, isn't it? A hugely successful game, praised for its inclusivity in some areas, yet seemingly stumbling over such a fundamental visual bug for a significant portion of its player base. Here's hoping Infold Games stops just *hearing* the feedback and starts actually *acting* on it with some proper wizardry, rather than just waving a generic corporate wand. Big thanks to Rebekah Valentine at IGN South Africa for shining a light (pun intended!) on this ongoing issue.
Tags: Mobile Gaming, Otome, Player Experience, Game Development, Representation in Gaming
Original article: IGN South Africa