Having played this game, and skimmed through the rather boisterous discussion surrounding it, I'd like to offer a few thoughts (and get this 3 post rule out of the way... a bit hard for a habitual lurker, lol!).
First off, kudos to whoever managed to extract this off of his server for offline play. I only played the 0.5 version of this game. When it comes to DarkSilver games, Glamour was more my jam (since it had a lot more girl-girl, my preferred kink), and I was quietly resentful that this game took priority over it. But, now that he has indicated that a new Glamour is coming and will be based off of the look and mechanics of Big Brother, while retaining its old story, I decided to give this one a try just to get used to it.
The first thing I realized is that I did not like the protagonist. He looks like a whiny little bitch who won't get a job and spends all his time perving on his mom and sisters. At least the horny female protagonist of Glamour is trying to do something with her life while seducing her pretty classmates. That said, I rarely enjoy playing male protagonists, so I may have a bias.
However, this problem was resolved because, while I didn't like the little baby-faced idiot I was playing, his chief nemesis was even more loathsome. Max may be a little bitch, but Eric is the embodiment of everything I hated about male POV characters in adult games. Eric is like a douchebag grown-up Max with all the cheat codes, and spends all his time click-fucking all the girls in the game. I totally understand the Eric hatred. I hated him too. There's only room for one bog-standard male adult game protagonist in this town, and it had better be the one I'm forced to play as.
However, the concerns regarding the dip in story development and game challenge after Eric disappears (I hope those mob guys caught him and severed all his limbs) are legitimate. Getting the sex scenes felt moot and academic once he was gone. That said, based on what I've played so far, with a little imagination you can create tension, competition and challenge without relying on something like Eric.
First, the protagonist must have the room to "lose" well. One of the biggest problems with Eric is that losing to him meant an unpleasant game-over that left a bad taste in your mouth. Therefore, every decision regarding him is made with the single-minded purpose of getting him out of the game. He is not a character, he is a hated obstacle. But if "losing" meant you merely don't get to fuck this girl (but watch somebody you don't hate with the passion of a thousand burning suns do it instead), then there is more room for adventurous decision-making, and in turn, better conflicts and storytelling.
There are already seeds for that competition in the game. For example, Max shouldn't be able to join in on Kate and Alice so easily. Kate should be his competition. This allows room for more convincing character development for Alice (who really should just be made bisexual... the explanation for her sleeping with Kate is very unconvincing. Would a straight guy rescued from a fire develop a thing for firemen?). This also gives Max a competitor the player won't feel compelled to kick in the face. If Max wins, he gets to sleep with Alice wherever he wants, and if he's feeling generous, allow Kate to join in on occasion (or not). If Kate wins, she takes Alice away and you only get to see them fuck on webcam, or spy on them with a telescope (I think there's one game that uses this mechanic, lol!).
The Lisa-Alex story arc is not so bad, mainly because Alex feels more human than Eric. It makes sense that if you go for Olivia, Lisa is closed off from you because she gets Alex. But, if you want to go back to Lisa, then you have to win her back from Alex. There, you're creating a challenge to make the sex scenes with Lisa more meaningful. And she is cute as a button. Probably my favorite render.
These are just examples of what can be done. Ultimately, the game has a lot of potential, and I admire the amount of time and effort that went into it, even if some of that time and effort went into creating the misbegotten Eric. This is an exhibition of all of DarkSilver's substantial creative growth. I'm glad he no longer needs Google Image Search to supply his visuals. I can't wait to see if Glamour looks this good.