So the last version I tried was 0.6, I believe, and I recalled that the story ended sooner and paths were limited compared to the previous version. I was not keen on the trend but figured sometimes you need to prune to improve so figured I'd come back a few releases later. Well things are a whole lot worse.
The game is a hot broken mess. Tommy's story arc ends almost immediately with no indication it actually ends just no more links to continue (which was the issue with casey as well) and none of the combat mentioned in the change log. So i'm thinking bug, which means the dev was too fraking lazy to do a simple QA. Which means there might be ONE path the dev always took that works to get to this new content but on the whole you the player are fucked with shitty bugs because the dev thinks releasing a pile of crap and getting players to fix/report bugs is better than taking the time to release the game in working condition.
The casey story arc is also broken too many broken links or dead ends. Adding this open world shit just ruined the game and now because the dev can't pick a type of game and STICK TO IT, we have less content then version 5 that actually works. This game has too many choices that don't work, too many arcs that aren't worked on and too many mechanics that don't complement a visual novel. This game is getting worse and worse as the development cycle continues.
Don't waste your time downloading this version it is broken and features released in version 8 (at least according to the changelog) that don't work are still broken and not fixed. This dev has no discipline whatsoever, instead of finishing and refining additions to the game, he/she leaves them in a broken state to add more broken mechanics. I get working on what you want but show a little discipline and FINISH what you start before jumping to your next "brilliant" idea, because ideas aren't brilliant when they are half assed. Not fixing and refining an idea means you half assed it.