You're basically describing every javascript based project out there and this one here probably still is one of the tinier matchstick cathedrals when it comes to that.
True, Newlife is struggling from a similar issue despite having fewer customization options for both players and NPCs, as well as more limited locations and features than what is planned for AW. Although, in the case of Newlife it might partly be attributed to a poorly planned framework foundation that results in problems snowballing and slowing down progress, combined with a dev that seems to be gradually losing interest in working with said framework. I still consider Newlife the best game of its kind though. And despite criticism of the dev, I still applaud their ability to keep deadlines and actually have a roadmap and a set timeframe for the project.
Then we have Girl life, which despite being worked on by so many hard working people is developing at a much slower pace than what I'd expect from a project of its size. Biggest problem is most likely that it's made in QSP, which is a shame. It also has a lot of complex systems baked into it, and while impressive, they don't actually do much for gameplay unless you like micromanaging a lot of stuff without much noticeable effect as they are not integrated into many scenes/events/choices.
AW uses a heavily modified version of Twine and Sugarcube, and while not optimal for this type of game it has the benefit that a lot more people knows HTML and Javascript than ie. Java or Python. If the dev will go down the Girl Life path and have a lot of people collaborate on the project, I think it could have potential. They could host the game online, free it from its Twine/Sugarcube dependency, and collaborate through ie. github. If not, I think there's more value in the framework itself than whatever game it's being used for. He could license it out to others who want to make text based games but don't want to create their own framework. Not sure if the Twine/Sugarcube dependency would prevent him from doing that from a legal pov, but it's interesting to think about. Of course, he would also need to protect his code from being copied somehow (what newlife is doing).
TLDR; All the big erotic lifesim games have their own strengths and weaknesses. I just don't think AW will turn out to be the Messiah of the genre, but I also want to be proven wrong.