ok I'm about to be a little mean so brace yourselves, and understand that is comming from somebody who enjoys...what ever this is becoming.
starting off, i played Ken's, Hiro's and Mark's (have yet to read Gabriel as of making this review), I'm in intrigued with Ken's and Hiro's route which is where Mark's route fails for me, there's a subtlety to the horror and mystery in both panther and fox route that is messed up in the dog's route, which is funny cause clearly Mark's is where the budget went, i loved the change of perspective and mini game that was added in some scenes that helps flesh the VN to a interactive game, however Mark as a character felt interesting at first but falls flat as he is replaced by Simone and Ollie making his route the least focused, i also didn't like Virgil being more of a active antagonist compared to the other routes where he is an omnipresent entity making him mysterious and eldritch like.
As for Ken's and Hiro's i love where this is going curently as both of this stories feel more grounded although Ken's nearly ended up making the same mistakes Mark's route made which is thankfully sidelined by focusing more on Ken, the setting and the events unfolding as you help him with his issues.
Overall my point is the story works best when you are focusing on the characters present, the time period they have to face off, and the horror of (in the case of Ken and Hiro) abuse, racism, trauma and the uncertainty of having a good ending.