Love and Deepspace faces fresh fan backlash over latest campaign

• Love and Deepspace has clarified that its latest fictional drinks are not intended to be recreated or consumed in real life.
• The campaign has drawn more than 2 million views on X.
• Players continue to question Infold Games over the cancelled Valko character.

Love and Deepspace is facing fresh criticism after its latest social media campaign asked players to suggest a secret ingredient for a fictional drink.

The game's official X (formerly Twitter) account shared the campaign on September 29th, asking fans to participate using the hashtag #SleeplessBanquet. 

The post has since drawn more than 2 million views with some commenters questioning why the developer is promoting this type of fan activity while other concerns remain unresolved.

Drink concerns

The campaign caused concern because some of the suggested drink recipes featured real-world plants that can be dangerous if consumed. One recipe included Datura, a psychoactive plant, while another suggested flame lily as a garnish. Fans quickly warned others not to recreate the drinks. 

Love and Deepspace later added a safety notice to the post stating that the drinks were fictional and intended for in-game purposes only, telling players not to recreate or consume them in reality. 

“Safety Notice: All drinks shown are fictional and for in-game purposes only,” the developer wrote. “Do not attempt to recreate or consume them in reality.”

Valko backlash

Several comments also criticised the developer for addressing the campaign while not addressing ongoing concerns over Valko, the werewolf character whose planned addition was cancelled following major player backlash in July.

Valko was originally planned as the game's sixth male protagonist. Infold Games later committed to introducing no additional love interests and focusing on its five existing characters.

The July backlash included more than 200,000 complaints on Chinese app Weixin, with players concerned about adding a sixth romance option and its potential effect on future content and gacha banners.