I'm starting to fall out of love with this game and it's taken me a few version to really understand why.
Firstly, the game just feels a bit dated due to the static pictures rather than GIFs or WEBMs that most other games of the genre are now using. I understand why - the game has been in development for a long time and it's a massive undertaking to go back and source/replace such a huge amount of content, but as understandable as it is it doesn't change the feeling.
Second, I feel like the game is starting to lose its focus in terms of the storyline. Originally there was one or two major plot threads to get through with Kurndorf's ghost, Davy/Kate, and then eventually the Church. This allowed for a tighter story. Now we have various stories that intersect at different intervals and unless you already know the stories coming into the game then I imagine it's quite confusing to play through and understand what's going on. Obviously it doesn't help that there's very few triggers with prerequisites in terms of the stories so you end up with situations whereby you have to visit Kate in her room and save Kate from the hotel at the same time as an example.
Lastly, I feel like we're getting character bloat instead of depth. The characters we have now could be fleshed out more with more events and a greater range of content rather than adding in new characters which also lack content. It feels like a lot of the game is a framework with more to come in the future rather than being an active development cycle. Something like Girl Life ended up becoming. A feature freeze for a few versions with a focus on making the world seem more alive and lived in through interactions between characters could be something really beneficial.
Oh and although it's not my cup of tea, I notice that there is a bit of a lack of gay content outside John Adams and Mr. Beasley. Probably because the actors involved are straight performers? I'm not sure. But in a game where you essentially take over the minds of everybody that you meet in order to fulfill sexy desires then this feels like it could be an option more.
Either way it's an impressive accomplishment for the game to have come as far as it has especially as cmacleod took over somebody else's project but it's now to the point where they've made it their own. I'm wondering if a SugarCube or RenPy based sequel bringing the game a bit more up to date with other games of this type might be something to start thinking about?