The curtain drew yesterday on the Love And Deepspace Once Upon A Frame banner! After a long while of not having played the game on stream, I was super happy to revisit it with this film-themed set of cards.
If you’d like to jump to a specific card in this blog, please click the card name below!:
Zayne: Dawn and Devotion
Caleb: Up Close
Rafayel: Sunset on Canvas
Xavier: Runaway Hearts
Sylus: Finale Undone
Zayne: Dawn and Devotion
Zayne isn’t my main, but this card surely sent my heart aflutter. Zayne’s card is one of two cards which gave the love interest (LI) a different accent to suit the setting. From the get-go it throws you into a peculiar situation which results in you working really hard to win over his heart. The interactions in this card are so so cute and proper!
Dawn and Devotion is inspired by Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin, the classic romance novel from 1813 that captured the hearts of many and had numerous adaptations over the years. If a short drama set in 19th-century England where your reputation is at stake depending on who fancies you sounds up your alley, you will absolutely delight in this card. Pray excuse some… potentially improper mischief~
Side note: one of my favourite modern adaptations is The Lizzie Benett Diaries from 2012—a Youtube Drama that had me hooked in my teens! So if this card has left you wanting more, I cannot recommend it enough.
Caleb: Up Close
Alright, I know this one seems a little lengthy but please bear with me!
There were a number of speculations on what Caleb’s card is based on. In this story, you wake up as a ghost in another world, where you have difficulty interacting with physical objects but can communicate with Caleb. Together, you explore ways to increase your physicality and do your best to materialise yourself, sharing many cute moments along the way.
Some speculations state that it is based on UP because of the balloon motifs and MC and Caleb being childhood friends. Others say it is based on The Red Balloon (Le Balloon Rouge), a 1956 love story about a boy who grows attached to a red balloon and takes it with him everywhere. There is a lot to unpack with the latter, and these are beautiful films, but the theory I’m leaning to most is that Up Close is based on Ghost!
Ghost is a 1990 classic supernatural romance which follows Sam, a murdered banker whose spirit gets caught between the living world and the next. Initially, he can’t interact with the living, and discovered he died due to a corrupt operation. During the movie, he seeks to protect his grieving girlfriend, Molly, and works with a psychic to learn how to physically interact with objects in the living world. Many elements to Ghost align with the events that happen in Up Close, and the genre aligns with the theme of this banner.
In Up Close, the story has been changed to make it more succinct, but the emotional impact is still very much intact. I personally enjoyed playing as ghost MC and watching how the two made their human-ghost relationship work. Please give it a watch or playthrough to find out what happens to this pair!
Rafayel: Sunset On Canvas
Beware of the iceberg! The inspiration for Rafayel’s Sunset On Canvas is the 1997 film classic, Titanic, which takes the form of the luxury cruiser, Skuldra, in the card. The overarching plot is similar to the original minus the existing fiancé, and is full of humorous moments of MC and Rafayel being rebellious towards the class divide upon the ship. A definite recommendation if you enjoy Raf’s usual antics and want a relatively lighthearted take on the Titanic tale.
Xavier: Runaway Hearts
Oh, my beloved. I’ll try to be as unbiased as possible as a Xavier main, but his cute accent in this adaptation of Romeo and Juliet is EVERYTHING! Xavier and MC being the nobles of different houses aligns well with their original myths of being royalty in Philos because the settings are similar. I especially liked the immersive moments and how these two just seem so giddy in love. Every encounter with Xavier is filled with expectant, butterflies-in-the-stomach type tickles. It made me feel like I was falling in love with him all over again. If you’ve never fallen in love with Xavier, perhaps you will with this card.
Sylus: Finale Undone
Set against the backdrop of war, Sylus’s card is reminiscent of 1942’s Casablanca. With a brewery, nightclub, and an important route that needs to be secured, Sylus’s Finale Undone had the most tension in my opinion. With the outcome of the war uncertain, MC and Sylus’s blossoming love has to be put on pause to handle more important matters. It makes everything else all the sweeter! He’s also a little mean to us upon our first meeting…which is a fun flip on how they met in the main story.
VOD:
Thank you so much for reading these short reviews! If you’re looking for more Love And Deepspace on this blog, check out the Love And Deepspace category which has my short dive into Caleb’s Ghost’s Final Wish, which were (with all myth stories) tragic and heart wrenching.