i eagerly waited for this game to release and there are lots of things i liked about it—the art, how decisions and memories early on in the game made an appearance later on, the personalities of the characters. i definitely felt emotionally invested in different relationships and it was hard for me to say goodbye when that time came.
as someone that is big on romance though, i wish there was...more. i liked all of the other characters but i sometimes found myself skipping forward until i could have more alone time to bond with cove and make progress with the romantic side of our relationship. i am probably alone in this but it would have been nice in steps 2 and 3, if mc had a direct crush and/or was in love with cove, the family bit would feature a little less and the romance part was more prominent. romance didn't feel like a highlight of this game for me.
i also felt weird about choosing romance options i thought were typical in teen romance that seemed to initially make cove uncomfortable. i get that he struggles with certain forms of intimacy which is why i wish especially in step 3, we saw less of the family and friends and more moments of just mc and cove. by the end of the game i found myself craving more romance moments with cove and i bought both dlcs and played through them a couple times.