Hah, I didn't dislike her either. But yeah Maximus is definitely a dude's name, I thought it was the default name for MC and I'd just forgotten it.
My mistake, it is a male name indeed, but Maxime is a strange name to me, so I got it all messed up. The MC default name is Red.
Maxime is supposed to be around 8 years older than MC, so I would even argue that her face matches a much older woman. Also I don't think using a more mature or unusual models in those kind of games is a bad thing, but using it for the very first sex scene just minutes into the game could send a wrong message and affect player retention in a negative way.
Meredith fits the script very well and has this Bridget Jones appeal that I would consider it pretty mainstream or at least popular enough. Juliet, Ruby and especially Angel switch the focus and lead things into a very different direction. Perhaps the Author aims for some kind of gradation or he changed plans due to feedback, maybe someone following the patreon has some real insights.