I'm a lapsed Sims player who just wants a doctor husband, and Love and Deepspace's new update lets me date five guys at once

A doctor in the Love and Deepspace Secret's kiss event says to focus on what you need — (Image credit: Papergames)

What kind of Sims 4 player are you? If you've ever removed the pool ladder, obsessed over reaching relationship level 'WooHoo', or wished for third person control over your sim (but felt a little let down by inZOI), then look no further. A Sims-like hidden in an otome monster-battler has the perfect blend of classic and modern gameplay for you.

Love and Deepspace pulled me into its orbit after being relentlessly targeted on TikTok with my kryptonite: a tall, villainous, silver-haired love interest going by the name of Sylus. Since then there have been several unexpected twists and turns – it can track your period to a frighteningly accurate degree, make you laugh, cry, or instil unrealistic expectations when going to a Five Guys (what do you mean I don't get five guys?). But scratching that Sims itch so hard I needed a medic was not on my bingo card. Thankfully one of my space husbands is a doctor.

Playing the starfield

A screenshot shows a Love and Deepspace main character taking a selfie with Rafayel as he sits in the bathtub — (Image credit: Infold Games)

Eenie meenie

Screenshot from inZOI showing two characters talking. — (Image credit: Krafton)

inZOi vs The Sims 4: Pitting the life sims against each other to compare five key features

It's been a hot minute since I played The Sims proper, but it hasn't quite hit the spot in recent years – especially since The Sims 4 moved toward a live service model. Last year, inZOI was poised as The Sims biggest competitor after Life by You was canceled, providing he coveted third person control Sims fans have been begging for since the console spin-offs.

inZOI looked gorgeous, but it lacked heart and depth. I'm a simple person – relationship interactions, getting creative, and causing a little bit of havoc is what the Sims experience has always been about for me.

Love and Deepspace's new Home mode ticks all of these boxes and is a staggering offering, considering it's free side content in an already storage-busting game, and can be enjoyed regardless of your success in its gacha events. You're given a spacious villa which you can decorate, roam about at your leisure, and of course share with one of your five beaus at any time. For now, the villa has six interior spaces and a garden – with the rumored kitchen and second floor to be unlocked in a future update. The lack of a kitchen at the start made my fiancè recoil in disgust, but hey, it's not about him.

Love and Deepspace players are an amalgamation of achievement hunters, lore lovers, combat fiends, photo mode dwellers, and everything in-between. Since Home launched, the community has shown unyielding dedication across the board to pushing the boundaries, not least in creativity. There's no shortage of eye-poppingly detailed designs and an enviable wealth of imagination on display. From recreating popular in-game settings (dragon included), to generating instantly shareable room templates for community use and tips and tricks to beat that pesky load limit, there's a wide breadth of possibilities.

Embracing on the battlefield during the Love and Deepspace Throne of Eros event — (Image credit: Papergames)

Being an Otome game at its core, its focus on relationship interactions is a delight. Each prospective boyfriend has their own unique idiosyncrasies and conversations thrown into the mix, so it feels like you're having meaningful interactions with different people if you're going through the motions with all five bachelors. As you raise your relationship status they'll sit by the fire, dance, play music, celebrate and watch fireworks with you, snuggle up on the sofa, and help you 'sleep' in bed, but there's no WooHoo equivalent. Yet. This hasn't stopped people coming up with ways to *ahem* simulate that…

For science, I tried the popular glitch to share a bath with my man, to devastating body horror effect – becoming a human totem pole by crushing Sylus' head beneath my torso, as his legs protruded from my thighs. He also lost his head in an effort to utilise a cubby hole as a cosy reading spot. Suffice to say, when I tried the ultimate fanservice 'duplication' glitch to have multiples of the same man, enabling you to bring in another love interest and break the space-time continuum, it was a multiversal disaster. Sylus' vampiric alter ego stole me from himself through the wall and Sylus and Zayne clashed so catastrophically when I wanted a simple hug, that I was yeeted beyond the map of Linkon City.

Love, actually

It harkens back to simple pleasures, and sometimes that's all you need.

Suddenly I'm 12 again – the feeling of discovering WooHoo for the first time came rushing back, like a hidden secret between me and my flushing cheeks. Except this time I'm not strategically placing the camera so my mum doesn't see. And yet, the reflex is still there.

The cherry on the top of this housing cake is the horror of arranging flowers together. I got Zayne to help me out, which led to what my favorite gardening guide calls 'botanical crime scenes', as flowers and foliage are placed in inexplicable ways. But the real challenge for completionists and lovestruck fools alike is getting him to make you a flower arrangement…by himself. He will avoid this like the plague.

Holding a character's hand during the Love and Deepspace Fireworks Vow event — (Image credit: Papergames)

Is your man constantly stealing your shower gel? Vacuuming the grass? Polishing his gun? Or falling off the swing? Time to block him in pool-ladder style to force encourage him to make you a floral surprise. Even then, he'll probably just do air karaoke instead.

This is the chaos I live for. It's not perfect, there are items that are time or level-gated, and crafting resources for furniture can become scarce, but I'm having more than enough fun spending time in a place away from the pulling and praying of the gacha system. It harkens back to simple pleasures, and sometimes that's all you need.

Now, if you need me, I'll be off taking too many photos and getting my vampire boyfriend's head out of the coffee table.

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