I guess I should have read the game better, it plays all of it's cards in the opening scene. The dialogue is full of cringe and missed shots at funny, and your choice for Zenda is to compliment her or to flirt with her. The game operates on the assumption that you want to jump every girl, and is basically hostile to the idea that you don't find some of them appealing. Even when they are nothing-burgers, and that's the best case scenario. Most have "antics" that are off-putting or predatory, or both.
Both cougars are way too forward and not pretty or interesting enough for me, the bar scene is actually uncomfortable and I was amazed that the game thought MC should ever come back there.
Sadie doesn't seem to understand the gravity of the situation and tries to date her cousin. In her defense MC does a 180 in the span of 5 minutes and goes from a mild panic attack to taking her to a date, so I guess it's just me that cares about the witness protection plot here.
Heidi comes off as an awkward creep. It felt like MC was violated when she decided to barge into his room, get on top of him, and stay to watch him change. This is a tropey porn game scene, but everything is off. Give me the option to throw her off, or to call her bluff and take it "too far" if she thinks this is ok. Even giving an option to confidently strip in front her would have changed the mood completely. Instead it looks like MC is uncomfortable and he cups his balls as he shuffles to get his pants.
The context also works against this scenario. MC has some real problems and his introduction with Heidi has him actually scared that he might not have a place to live, because of a bad joke. Then you learn that the previous tenant was a creep and the girls almost got a restraining order against him. But disregard all that, there's a grill in your room, all is great.
Date with Zenda was mostly nothing, until the "choice" was sprung. I don't know what planet you are from if you think that not interrupting means I'm going to sit alone for 30 fucking minutes. The song ends and if she's not back at the table I'm miffed and will probably confront her, but I'm on my way out of there already. I don't like these kinds of games or girls that play them. She might bring it back with "I was waiting for you to return" or "I was hoping you'd interrupt" and playing it cool, but that works after one song, not after half an hour. Lecturing the MC on confidence after this disaster is delusional.
So that basically leaves Mora, which works because I'm a sucker for a read-head. I was assuming "playing" a tabletop rpg in a group of 2 was an excuse for a make out session, so that went well, but I was hoping she wasn't actually into the game. Things get worse when she reveals her problems, but oh well, I've seen worse plot devices. At least she seems cool, just hurt. She gets way less cool when she breaks down twice more in the next two scenes. I was kinda hoping we'd get a reveal that she is a manipulative bitch but no, Tyler was gay all along, who would have thought. The scene is actually not bad, except for Mora storming out again. I can almost believe this is a scenario that could happen, it's stretched beyond how people act to shoehorn the MC into the group, and I can live with that. Anyway, girlfriend/boyfriend words get dropped and this plot point is "resolved".
So Athena and why I finally dropped the game. I don't have anything against the girl, I will humor her "I'll kick your ass" for a while. But apparently trying to be friendly with your housemate was too much for the game's choice structure to handle. She gets injured, you act nice, she tries to kiss you after a while. MC takes over and kisses her back, while the Mora plot is still happening in the background. I knew the game would not let the characters talk about it like adults, but I thought I turned her down afterwards. Instead, immediately after the scene with Mora where she calls us her boyfriend and we call her our girlfriend, MC went home, run into Athene, kissed her and declared that as far as he is concerned, they are "together". You guys do you, I'm apparently not in this story.
I guess there's a "right" way to play this. The girls are pretty enough, the writing is not my cup of tea but not the worst I've seen. There's some intrigue, MC almost slipping up during conversations in chapter one was enough to keep me interested. So I guess it's not that weird to see high scores for this. For me it mostly fails at setting up proper tone. It pretends to be serious, expects you to act carefree, and gets really awkward when you treat is seriously. The choices boil down to "I wanna smash" vs "I don't want to have any fun". Nope for me.