I completely agree with your statement. Having one update lean into NTR vibes is tolerable if it stays rare, but forcing Kat to stay behind with Pat while Luke was made to leave alone completely crosses the line into character assassination.
Here s my take, in my own words, because this whole sequence on the pure/loyal path has been driving me insane:
Even though nothing physical happened, the way every single scene is framed screams that Kat cheated emotionally. Why did she let Luke drive off alone into a "storm"? Why didn t she immediately go with him? Most importantly....
why the hell was there no player choice like "Leave with Luke" or "Stay with Pat"? What loving girlfriend in her right mind ditches her boyfriend after a huge fight and spends the night with some creepy old fart? We re talking 60–100 miles from New Jersey back to NYC depending on the exact spot...did Luke take a taxi, a train, or what? Pat s driving an SUV through pouring rain…so what?!? With these kind of Cars you can drive through Tornado Season and the Car wouldn t even blink...but a little rain...and he has to stop the Car?!?! Yeah! Right!
Then the motel: what was even the point of the "Pat spies on her in the shower" choice if it changes nothing? Once they re at the motel, why doesn t she pick up the landline and call Luke, if her Cell is most likely dead? Every motel has a phone at the front desk at least! Why doesn t she insist on her own room? The next morning there s zero dialogue between them, no proper goodbye, nothing....and Kat just sits in the car looking depressed, sad and guilty even though (on MY path) she didn t actually do anything wrong (besides spending her night in a creepy motel for almost no reason). Question after question, and none of it makes sense for the loyal Kat we ve been building the entire game.
The whole sequence feels completely wrong and forced on the pure path. And don t even get me started on those creepy AI generated Scenes....whatever happened to the beautiful animated scenes we used to have? The magic is gone.
Like you said: give us the choice to leave with Luke, followed by a proper, loving, loyal only sex scene to make up for the fight (something the game has desperately needed lately anyway), and most of us would come running back. Until that rework happens, Kathryn s character feels ruined for a part of the fanbase, and a lot of us (me included) have zero motivation to keep playing.
This reminds me so much of the almost very beginning....that first shady photoshoot with Kat and that nutbag Nate… geez. Kat literally called Luke because Nate wanted to do topless shots. Bobby gave us a choice and we could deny the request… and then, just a few in-game minutes later, Kat was standing in front of the camera with her boobs barely covered… and her crotch exposed… and shortly after that (again with zero player choice) she was fully naked in front of the camera!! That wasn t hilarious – it was infuriating and illogical! Bobby never fixed that Scene!