I mean, fundamentally it's not hard to understand. It's one of those games that basically try to be a subversion of the common dating sim, in both that the common goal (of picking up all the chicks) leads to your downfall, and that you really don't have much control despite having the illusion where it seems like you do. All the background stuff, while cool I guess, is ultimately just for worldbuilding and mystery. Remove all of those elements, and the theme of the story remains the exact same, which is the actual important part.Sure, it is unique in its history and its impact, but is it unique because of Selebus' fragility, or was it unique because of what Selebus once wanted it to be? And does that still hold up with what it is today?
I feel like a question like this could be infinitely revisited since LiL is stated to be a continuously progressing narrative with no end in sight. To illustrate this, we know so little about what the foundational state of LiL is supposed to be, specifically because one of the main points of LiL is that we are not supposed to understand it. Since we cannot objectively understand many aspects of it, theoretically anything can happen to change constants we presume to understand already, and we would be none the wiser if it is intentional, a retcon, a revision, or normal progression. The fantastical nature of LiL means literally anything can occur, and it could seamlessly flow through the story or be explained away as some expected anomaly necessary to fulfill a point of the narrative we might not know about. Is that good writing or a weakness? It may be impossible to tell.
I'm particularly interested in the concept of the death of the author and supremacy of the reader. With the unique development behind LiL, the author could theoretically be replaced by anyone for a moment, and it might be impossible for us as readers to know the difference. LiL is so narratively incomprehensible that anything could happen, and we would have no choice but to accept it as if it were supposed to be there. We might not be able to identify mistakes or breaks of logic, or the feasibility of deus-ex spider-angel Gods, or characters not acting the way they should, simply because we still don't understand the 'rules' of the story or what the story should be. Or anything for that matter.
... Or maybe that's the point, though: to intentionally make trying to understand anything pointless. Kudos to Maya for not understanding anything of her world after how many years; I feel like we barely understood anything in four.
Sel isn't really replaceable because that's the entire appeal of the game, for better or for worse. It's obviously not very good writing when the author themselves is so apparent within the characters, but it also allows for a sort of intimacy and bareness that most people just aren't willing to do in their stories.