I would argue that edgy, derivative, trope laden, pseido-seinen, cliches are not necessarily 'Something better'.... I will agree some TRY, but MOST FAIl.
The key is in the name. AVN.... notice the A bit? Sorry, but in GAMING, for the purposes of defining genre on sale and download sites, NO MATTER what people have tried to do to redefine it, ADULT, means SEXUAL CONTENT, GRAPHIC sexual content... in some jurisdiction, legally so.
It does not mean Adult themes, like depression, suicide, murder, infidelity, other assorted mental illness, or traumas of assorted varieties, I can list for you right now, off the top of my head, easily 30+ games, many AAA+ releases by established professional game studios, that deal with such matters, and DO NOT have tags like 'Adult' or 'NSFW'. Because THOSE things, are NOT what those tags MEAN in gaming.
People TRY to claim that these days, but that is NOT the case.
So when you make an AVN, as opposed to a VN, then you are aiming to make a game with ADULT content in the gaming context. If you make an emotional romance, no harem, no poly, simple realistic story, focus on the drama between slice of life moments.... then you are likely going to have limited, and CRAPPY, sex scenes. You thus fail as an AVN.
If you have all the cliche tropes of old school schlock AVNs, an OP Giga Chad Male-Dom, Master Lord, MC.... with token stoner/black sidekick, who's just moved home from somewhere to live with his ... landlady, and two female... housemates....whilst he goes to... 'College'.. even if it feels like high school... and starts a new job in... a modeling agency....whilst also being recruited by the Knight Templar... from the future... and the CIA, and Aliens because of his magic mutant psychic Chad power, born from his divineply blessed chosen penis...... and the game itself is poly AF with hard Harem pathways without consequence...... well... in THAT game it is MUCH easier to twist things, draw long bows, flirt with flimsiest, most tenuous justifications, and simplistic black and white naivety, to ensure the MC can get a LOT of sex, and thus have copious amounts of it.
Each to their own, but sorry, to ME, the LATTER passes the AVN bar MUCH MORE COMPLETELY than the former... most of which, the former kinds of games, DISMALLY FAIL at being an AVN because the Devs want to make it something serious and 'not that kind of game'... and in the process F up what the AVN IS, what is THE most defining feature of the AVN, and separates it from the regular game using the VN format. To call them 'Better' is often times laughable.
But that is just my view.