I don't think that is a fair criticism. For a more linear story, that comes along with the blue/pink background characters. I have to assume that in this case, it is a reasoned decision on the speed of finishing updates, and because the story (as far as gotten) is more linear, I think that is probably a good decision.
Why is that not a fair criticism? A product might sacrifice their quality to reduce cost (in this case, update speed and/or production effort), making it more affordable. However, at the end of the day a quality drop is a quality drop. Facts are still facts regardless of whether the reasoning is understandable or not.
Criticism is not just mentioning the positives of the product, but also acknowledging any negatives that inevitably shows. Doing otherwise is not criticism, it's pandering.
Because in this case, the "product" is free. This is an artist wanting to tell their story. This one in particular isn't even arranged as a game, it is an AVN in the truest sense. Clearly, the intent here is to tell the story first. There is nothing wrong with that. As I said before, not even rendering the non-interactive characters should have been a massive tip-off.