I agree that this last update is a fiasco but never have I thought that I would read someone calling dev for trying to give players some options and not making it simply linear.. Maybe instead of wishing to make games linear the true solution is just put an effort into the story writing?
I have been complaining about player "agency" on this board for years. The idea might be noble but in reality it leads to a whole lot of incomplete games and burnout. Creators having to cater to different tastes in different routes leads to the player needing either several save files and replaying content, or only experiencing a fraction of the game.
For instance. Imagine if there was a homosexual man route in this game, that progressed at the same pace as Jennifers story. Suddenly the development time is split and the end result would be worse for both routes.
The burnout comes from having to do the same thing several times, but with slightly altered results (did we touch that guy's butt on day 4, do we like threesomes etc,). Snails progress, developers being bored, worse games.