I haven't finished the game yet. I'm honestly a little caught up in playing it just to see how much more it can fall apart.
From seeing a few posts here and in reviews, I already have some ideas where things go.
So, this is an incomplete list of things that, I think, would have made the game better:
1) Romance with Chloe. Pretty, sweet, kind and loving. She's probably the best written character by far. She's absolutely perfect for a solo route, to choose her and only her.
instead, the game is so fucked on who you're trying to fuck that she gets relegated to a background character.
2) A reason for mom/son. As things stand, all signs point to "your mom's a whore, kid." If there was supposed to be something redeeming about her, beyond her looks, you need more buildup. A reason to connect to her. A reason for feelings to SLOWLY develop. Not "My mom is hot and I think only with my dick, so I'll risk everything to hit that," and not "wow, my boy has grown up so much! I can't believe how much I want his dick inside of me!"
3) Either a reason to hate Derek, or a happy ending for him. Maybe he's a cheater? Maybe he's impotent, stressed out at work, and hits his wife one night after drinking? Who knows. But if we want to pursue mom and ruin this poor dude's life (and hurt his daughters in the process), we need a reason to feel he has it coming (even better if it's a reason that makes sure his daughters don't hate us for what happens).
Alternatively, he seems like a decent guy, OK looking and still in shape. He works to support his family and makes good money to see them taken care of, and the story treats him like shit. I'm reminded of the dad from MILFY city, and how unjustified his wife's treatment of him is, to the point that she, hot as she was (as well as the titular milf) was my least favorite sexual/romantic choice. So, give the guy a break. Maybe Carol's mom and him hook up and are happy together, if you pursue your mom. Maybe, if you reject your mom, you get her to appreciate her "true love" better and she not only never cheats on him, but their relationship is better for it. Just... something. Something other than the "he's the token background middle aged character you're going to cuck."
4) An Ashley path. Non-sexually, a bad relationship with your mom could lead to the two of you commiserating, forming and understanding, and being friends. Sexually, a bad relationship with your mom could lead to the two of you giving into an attraction to each other, while she gloats that she gets what mom wants but doesn't deserve. Whatever. Just, some path with her, where she is a choice, even if not sexual.
5) Carol and Jessica. Without having finished the game, this is the choice that probably exists and I just haven't seen it to completion yet, but instead of two slutty girls, who are decent friends, that you become FWB with, maybe a threeway relationship would work.
And it could be better established earlier on. Maybe they were a couple, and Jessica doesn't care that Carol likes to fuck guys occasionally, and even watches sometimes, but you appeal to both of them so they want to bring you into the relationship for real?
Alternatively, the game needs a path forward so that you can disregard the two of them, or have them as background characters you're friendly but not sexual with, so you can pursue other paths.
You have the setting you need, and the plot. Yes, they've been done before, but if some effort is put in, they can be done again with some success.
You have characters, that honestly work in the setting as provided, and don't even need personalities to be tweaked much.
What you need is a better plot, better writing, branching choices, and a game that remembers and respects those choices.
Because I'd like to argue that much of what I wrote is probably what people came into the game hoping to experience, and were a little shocked, not just at its absence, but as to how shallow the actual game experience is.
Oh, last issue?
For the love of God, make ass eating an option. I don't care that the option, complete with animation and CG, is there, for players who want it. But that is, very much so, something some of us have no interest in. It is not some affront to the artistic integrity of your grand vision is have an option "lick her ass" or "focus on her pussy," and to have the scene play out more or less the same, with "my tongue being rammed up her asshole" content only there for those who choose it.
If you want that choice to be taken, add an extra affection point, of an extra CG or two, or a few lines of extra dialog, to "reward" taking the less vanilla choice.
