To be honest, I recently played this game called "Gone Love" and I felt quite emotional. As an old player who has worked hard since the Saipan era, I have seen too many mobile games rushing towards commercialization, with krypton gold, card drawing, and daily tasks. I can't wait to stuff players into the payment funnel every minute. But this game stood out to me - it doesn't sell values, it doesn't force you to play, and it's even completely free.
Not to brag or to be slanderous, this actually represents a new direction for the mobile game industry: returning to the "content" itself. In the early years, we played Snake and Sokoban. At that time, games were pure joy. Later, mobile games became more and more like shopping malls, with various promotions upon entering. But in recent years, works like "Lost Love" that focus on emotional narrative and immersive experience have begun to emerge, such as "Florence" or "Choose Love". The developer Hainan Star Jumping dares to create this kind of pure art work for free, which shows that the market has begun to become more segmented and players are willing to pay for the "feeling".
As a veteran player, I am very pleased to see this change. Mobile games are no longer just a tool to kill time, they can also become a medium that touches the heartstrings. The scenes of dating and talking on the phone in the game reminded me of the days when I used Nokia to send text messages to chase girls more than ten years ago. Times are changing, but people's need for emotional connection will never change.
Of course, this type of game may not be so "successful" commercially, but at least it proves that mobile games can be more than just drawing cards and fighting monsters. I hope to see more works like this in the future.