Over the course of this game, it grows from a 2 to a 3.5/4 due to many factors. But even at its best, I'd say this is a mixed bag that leans towards the good.

The animations here are some of the, no, THE BEST animations I've seen in a 3D visual novel.  Add in the excellent music choices and SFX, and I'd have to say this is a great audiovisual experience.

But where it falls short at times is the writing. 

The comedy can reach some gut busting highs to some cringe inducing lows. On the bright side though is that the good starts to outweigh the bad as the story goes on.

The characters though, not so much. They are hit or miss throughout. Mostly due to uneven focus and who gets hit with the bad humor stick. 

Focusing on the main ones:

Chole is by far the best because she has the most consistent and sincere romantic and character arc. Her first kiss is also perfect. The lighting, the music, the writing, the emotion! Cinema. 

Grace is somewhat comparable, no complaints. But the rest...

Miya was fine at first, but Chapter 2 Part 2 killed her. Most of the comedy with her was bad or overdone. Her one emotional moment with the MC is undercut by the NSFW scene afterwards if you romance her. That followed by more questionable humor and any interest died.

I respect that Noelle is gay and not really romanceable, but that makes it so her involvement in the main plot won't be as important as the others. Right now, she's just there adding decent comedy and good vibes. Her coming out scene sweet though.

Stella is great, third best romance option, but she is disconnected from the majority of the cast. Her route and story is too stand alone at the moment.

Finally, Cadence. I'm probably in the minority but I dislike her. Yeah, she does add to the mystery and helps characterize the MC a bit. But at the end of the day, unlike everyone else, you have no choice on whether you want to romance her or not. Chapter Part 2 does give the option to say you don't love her, but at this point, it's too late. Doesn't help that she also feels discounted from everyone. Doesn't even show up in Chapter 2 Part 2 while Miya does.

 Overall, hit or miss. I do think most of these issues can be ironed out as the story progresses, but only time will tell. Despite the criticism, I still enjoyed the game enough to rate it a low 4. The mystery is interesting and the characters are fun more often than not.

The last thing to mention is the detective mini-game. I know it's too late to remove now, but I recommend not doing something like that again. It's cool, but it also increases dev time and makes replays a pain since it's not skippable.