Got around to playing the update, some pros but also some massive cons.
Pros:
+ Story moved forward again.
+ Bad endings full of sex are back.
+ Sabia involved in most sex scenes, or at the very least peeping on them.
Cons:
- Several gameplay features were rolled back, no new raiding events and no combat at all in this update.
- That puzzle was the dumbest gimmick I have seen in quite a while.
- Went through the code to double-check, none of your decisions in this update matter, none of the game's variables were touched and sub/dom evaluations have been narrowed down to just whichever one has the higher score between the two, so for the new content you can only be Dom-Sabia or only be Sub-Sabia.
- Game has been mostly streamlined, this update only has one real "side-quest", everything else has to be done in the order dictated by the game (this is more of a personal con, some people prefer more linear games).
The gameplay was really dissapointing in this update, but I'd give it one more update before judging it too harshly, could just be a matter of the new devs needing more time to settle in and chart out how they want to use the variables in future updates, but I still find some of the stuff they did really worrying. More so than the writing, I think the game design will suffer from Sierra's departure, since complex routes designed on top of many score variables is one of her signature features as a designer.
To sum it up, if you're into the game for the porn, the art is still as good as ever and will probably get kinkier at a fast pace. If you're into the game for the characters and the story, the new writing might feel a bit weird at some points, but overall the story is still the same and so are the characters, might have a few things that will feel like retcons here and there but nothing bad. If you're in it for the gameplay and the route planning with a lot of variables, I'd say give the devs one more update to really show their colors, but things aren't looking good.