How bad is it on the current updates? I'm some way into the first episode/season and the main girl is already starting to act like she and the MC are set for life. I'm sure that makes sense in som stories but when I play my lewd games I don't want to get stuck with just one.
They are set for life (which may not be all that long, of course... it's a harsh world), but you pick up a harem as you go. But there's not ever going to be an arch where Emily doesn't matter; in many ways she's the co-star of the show along with MC. I would say this is not a true sandbox in that respect; the key relationships happen due to fate, and the story advances regardless of what you do. You can affect side-quests, optional content and build your character, but there's no world in which you don't end up with Emily and the Harem.
The big thing that'll probably be a turnoff for you is that it's not designed as an arbitrary sandbox. The girls know about each other, form their own relationships (no, not in an NTR way) with each other, and comment on each other. A lot of the tension in the story arise out of their interactions with each other and MC, which makes it impossible to just write them all as optional. The example there is Jenny (the barrista) , who's the only somewhat major character the rest of the gang doesn't know about. Because of that, her story essentially evolves in a vacuum; there's no jealousy, no friendship, no growing respect or fights with the others.
The game changes tones as it progresses, starting as a slice of life college romance, gradually getting darker and more epic; by the time we're midway through Book 2 (day 165) there are strong inspirations of military fantasy creeping in to keep the slice of life college novel and the urban fantasy rise to power story company.
