This is definitely something that annoys me with adult games, and pulls away from the overall experience. Having to read, or worse skip, word essays about the location, the mood, the thoughts, and the actions of the characters. Slow buildup is excellent, but if the gallery/recollection room has a better flow than the game, there is too much text.
While this phenomenon is not exclusive to adult games, other media suffers from it too, I am a fan of the
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. After all, aren't most games visual in nature, so if you had to paint a picture with 1000 words, you can actually show that picture instead of describing it. Even better, use additional audio or music hints in order to set the atmosphere, and foreshadow something.
I understand not every developer is a great writer, but surely it is easier to visualize the paragraphs, show some teasing, signs of corruption, without reaching the minimum word count for an exam. This would improve replayability, pacing, and lead to a better game.
And don't get me started on huge empty maps (and mazes), without any clues, especially if there are scenes to be collected...
/rant over