Recently my boyfriend and I started playing Lovers in a Danger Spacetime!

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect— the game is fairly new and I hadn’t heard about it. But if you’ve got someone to play with, let me tell you: it’s loads of fun!!

What is Lovers? It’s a space shooter made by Toronto-based game developers Asteroid Base. It really tests how you manage your resources in a team. I’ve never played by myself, but that option is available. You’ll get to choose a pet companion who will help you man your spaceship. When playing the local coop version (which is what I did) you and your partner get to pick your own characters and then the adventure begins!

The story is simple and…cute? It’s set in a galaxy where love has always helped the ecosystem prosper. That is until Anti-Love started to take over and spoil everything. You and your partner must navigate through the galaxy, rescuing space-bunnies (who can help you unlock portals to progress to the next level) and restoring love. And of course, communication in your relationship is key.

The entire game is a lot of multitasking and cooperating, and most of the time, you have little time to react to what’s going on around you. For example, at one point when you rescue bunnies, you’re greeted with a bomb. First instinct would be to just set it off and then leave, like with the other bombs in the game. Or you’d think to get your shield up so you can safely deflect it. Turns out that the bomb explodes outwards, creating a radius of green matter that will persistently damage your ship’s health. All you can do is manoeuvre out of that space ASAP!

Personalization is a big part of the game, in which you can collect various gems and upgrades that can be added to your ship’s guns/cannons/shield or engine. These are limited, and you must decide on whether you want to add the metal upgrade to your shield (making it bigger and does damage to enemies crashing into it), or on a gun, making it a giant flailing mace. You most likely will start learning which upgrades you prefer to have on which part of the ship. But after you finish a world (a section of the game), your ship gets refreshed and you start anew!

If you and a buddy’s looking to work on your team working skills, or just have some extra time to burn exploring beautifully created 2D environments, get Lovers. And also set off the Yamato cannon as often as possible. It’s beautiful.