Played the first 5 episodes - not too in the mood figuring out what's going on with the episodes unlocks.
I think generally my impressions are in-line with the few comments I read on here. First of all, the game seems to checks all the basics. UI works fine, I didn't have any bugs (well, one random CTD, but okay), the writing is okay, the visuals are fine ... I mean, you'd think most games would get these things right, but, really, they don't, so it's already a plus.
I like that the MC is mute; it's something different. But the "origin story" behind that feels a bit cheap, and while it's wrong to say it never matters, it probably also doesn't matter as much as it should, and it's easy to forget if you just skim a bit or whatever.
Still. At least it's a guy with some things going on, and not some cringe edgelord or some random pervy loser.
The girls are okay too. Of course they are all a bit "type A, type B, type C" as usual, and despite being kinda varied visually they are also at the same time disappointingly similar ... but again, there's much worse games out there in that regard. At least you probably won't outright confuse them with each other.
Story seems solid so far. I'm kinda dubious about where it's going - but at least I'm fundamentally interested in seeing it play out. Again, when most games barely even bother with any sort of story this already is a plus ...
Sexy bit ... there are some, and I generally enjoyed them, but I guess I wouldn't specifically recommend the game for this bit; presumably there's going to be more going forward (well, that's how it usually works).
The episode I had most fun with was definitely the 4th; "investigating" the different stuff. Of course you couldn't really influence much, which is understandable, but for once felt a bit disappointing. Would have been interesting if there were more player input regarding those investigations, but, tbh, I'm not sure what sort of gameplay design I'd even suggest there.
As far as decisions go there's clearly some that presumably have some influence on the story and that are brought up at different points, and there's some that influence the immediate scene but probably not so much the overall story. I guess the main thing I feel kinda railroaded about is
But, again, I can understand that you can't just do a separate branch of the entire story depending on that ...
Otherwise my main gripe is that a lot of the MC's reaction stay internalized; like for example
. There's a certain imbalance there. Same early on with the keeping-secrets stuff, or with the flash backs (which, hm, I might think is kinda the weakest bit of the story so far).
Generally though kinda a pleasant surprise. Not perfect, but found it enjoyable so far.