Consequences for cheating are expected. Fred absolutely shouldn't get away with cheating on Mary. But there is a sizeable disconnect between intention and implementation here, I reckon: Mary stooped to Fred's level by cheating on him in return with some proper, juicy Netorare, but that makes her as bad as him - and still giving her some kind of moral high-ground over Fred when it comes to their relationship is just bad writing. Plain and simple.
Fred and Mary are now both horrible people that have taken their swinging too far, and instead of both realizing this before going off the deep end, we now have to watch Mary belittle Fred for the same crime she is guilty of.
And no, it doesn't matter who started it, this isn't a catch-'em-all game where points are tallied at the end and winner takes all (of the fault). Funny enough, it reminds me of MCU She-Hulk belittling Bruce Banner's troubled history as the Hulk and wallowing in her despair as a woman in the 21st century, despite the latter being bullied, abused, and suffering from the worst case of anger management known to man. Yup, she definitely has it worse than Bruce.
The problem isn't that the NTR/Cheating route has an unhappy ending, since most will agree with me that they don't expect sunshine & rainbows there, the problem is that the NTR route is superficially done. For example, instead of letting the NTR route have consequences for Fred impregnating Kelly and seeing how he squirms out of that nasty little situation...
Kelly is just written out without Fred facing any consequences ?!
And I will mention the game over screens again, as they should never be present in any AVN, even Kinetic Novels.
The most recent content update, Chapter 5B also follows the deadly sin of dating simulators: punished for certain path choices. Not following the "intended" route means Chapter 5B might as well not exist for NTR fans. This lesson is simple:
don't enable paths in game that are not treated equally. Feels like the developer just pointed a finger at some of their fanbase and laughed at them, sighed their shoulders and blamed it on them for choosing that way.
I am not mad at you, devs, I am merely disappointed that this is how you choose to go about this business.
1. Fred started it, not Mary. It was HIS CHOICE to fuck around and Mary is just getting back at him. "Choices have consequences" remember?
2. Her cheating depends on the cheat count of Fred. So if Fred fucked 1 girl and is regretting, she will forgive and won't continue with the cheating path. Fair?
3. Some choices in 5B will allow you to "Still" be in the game on the cheating path but be ready to reap what you sow. You choose to be in the game. So if Mary humiliates Fred for his sins we can't do anything about it.
4. We have added certain choices that allow both of them to reconcile even if the cheating went overboard in Jacob's scene (5A). But also depends on how you treated her so far, were you an "asshole" or gained her "Trust" (variables in choices).
5. Sim and I had the same thought on 'game over' and we were against it until many users wanted to end things with Mary (with Fred 'reacting' to her cheating and that we give them the option to split. One such user is still around. Go through earlier posts to find out who that is.
6. If Fred & Mary are not together, there is no "A Life Worth Living" This is a swinging-themed game for which we need the couple to be together even if they have differences and are probably in a state of marital death.
7. Punished for fuckups, rewarded for loyalty -> You should play other paths (if not already) and see how they turn out. Seems fair.
8. Fred gets a free pass if he fucks Zoe in a drunken state. He even gets a free pass if he slept with Lexi and then he was honest about it. Don't expect free passes every time he cheats.
9. The game is not complete, why do you folks keep assuming stuff like who is written off, killed, kidnapped, or whatever? Can we not expect a bit of patience so that we complete the game and then you can make your point? We know what we are doing with the story. You have to wait and find out.
10. Who said Fred is not facing the consequences of knocking up Kelly? He is being treated the same way she felt when she got to know her husband sleeping with his co-worker. And as for pregnancy part, do you know what is the story in C6? Again you are jumping to conclusion too quickly.
11. Who is marketing this game to be "Cheating" centric? We have never said this is a typical NTR game. Infact we have been very vocal about what it means if you cheat in our game. It's not our fault that the "NTR Fans" are not happy as the game is not per their taste. If at all we do a NTR game, we will make sure to put up a big text on OP saying "THIS IS A NTR FOCUSED GAME". You can check that game out and come up with your views. As that will be more appropriate.
Lastly, I am not mad at you, I am merely disappointed that this is how you choose to go about this business.