Incredible – and romantic at heart – Final Fantasy 16 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 actor Ben Starr is ready for the next step in his already stunning career, as a love interest in the RPG that tracks my period, Love and Deepspace.
He isn't coy about it. "I want to be in Love and Deepspace," Starr announces to narrative designer Alexa Ray Corriea on a recent episode of the Game Maker's Notebook Podcast. "I never will be. But I love dating sims."
I've been playing the gacha / life sim / NSFW dating game with sci-fi RPG battles Love and Deepspace for 393 days according to my iPhone widget, and my step-brother boyfriend Caleb is currently sitting on a bench staring at a closed door in our in-game home. Through him, I understand the suffering of the pinned butterfly, and I also know what Starr means when he says, "I love feral people."
"I read the fanfiction," Starr continues, pleading. "It's so silly and so fun. And, also, it's so creative. Shoutout to every single person who writes fanfiction about a character that either I have done or I'm adjacent to. It's fucking awesome."
Given Starr's familiarity with unrepentantly freaky gamers, his enthusiasm for them, and his pleasantly honeyed voice, I think all his comments here function as an impressive resume for Love and Deepspace.
But developer Infold can be secretive about the game's production – who can blame them when some of the most feral fans among us have a tendency toward stalking and conspiratorial thinking when their favorite romance option's washboard abs don't seem to glisten like they used to. So it's unlikely that Infold would ever choose an English actor as recognizable as Ben Starr to voice a love interest – too much of a risk – but if it ever did, I hope they name him Xylophone.
