In Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, the player assumes control over the crew of a pixelated spaceship. Your goal is to navigate it through the dangerous 2D space, avoid asteroids and fight off enemy ships and space monsters. Every time the ship hits an object, it loses some of its health.
The spaceship contains several devices, such as thrusters, laser cannons, and deflector shields, and one character can only control one device at a time. To keep the ship running and safe, the protagonists have to constantly move around the ship to activate a certain device. This is why, although Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime can also be played alone, the game is strongly oriented towards the cooperative multiplayer. Up to four players can participate and form a crew to thoroughly control every device. Even in the single-player mode, there’s the second protagonist, presumably your character's lover, who is controlled by the AI and obeys your orders.
Pink-colored surfaces, gigantic hearts that need to be unchained, and other visual elements highlight the game’s underlying theme of love as the means to survive. The game’s visuals are colorful, albeit simple, and are based on the “superflat” art style.