Spoilers for the current build... Also wild guessing that might be laughably wrong in a few updates.
There's a moment in the current public build that really solidified my distrust of Dean. The reaction in Dave's vision being so... empty. If you find your friend bloody, wounded, and maybe dying, why would he have no reaction. Then, Jack lets Dave make it to Dean in that vision and is laughing about it. All that scene was lacking was Dean raising the gun and laughing at Dave. Of everything in that day, that is what unsettled me the most and I haven't forgotten.
He got cleared of being Thanatos' master too easily as well, the bear isn't dumb. I'm not calling him the "mastermind" behind the whole thing, or that he's responsible for any of the deaths, but I just don't trust him at all. Roswell and Hoss are too obviously set up to be suspicious, Tyson and Sal are both used as weapons, Orlando is Orlando. That leaves Dean amongst the main group. The one that has the weakest connection to Dave overall and who seems to have just invited himself to the mansion (the implication is that Orlando invited him, but I remember Orlando being confused when that gets mentioned as a possibility). The one we've already caught interacting with Thanatos once who knows enough about robotics to apparently repair him (who also apparently survives a "timeline with Memphis" whatever that entails). When Thanatos sound blasts Roswell, Hoss, and Dave on path F/G, he speaks to someone watching through the surveillance system. The only ones unaccounted for at that time are Sal, Benson and Dean. Then there's who exactly Thanatos is referring to on path D when he mentions his "master" being killed. Even his initial death feels different compared to the others. There's also Orlando's vision that still hasn't had a chance to happen. He sees a bear who he thinks is Dean laughing at Dave's body. With Dom in the picture now, it'd be easy to assume it's just him and Orlando got confused. But it really could be Dean.
In the two years I've played this game, he's consistently sat wrong with me whereas the others I've either grown to like through playing their routes or just naturally did from the bus stop. When you compare him to the other 5 routes, he's even more out of place. Dean stands out precisely because he doesn't at all. Almost like he's designed to be intentionally unassuming and normal, so the player "falls" for his charms and never suspects him of wrongdoing.
I'm probably going to feel really dumb in a few updates, but I'm sticking with my gut instinct here.
Minor spoilers for the pat. build.
And yeah, it seems to be setting up choosing who to send into the forest.
Hopefully whatever Thanatos is about to show Dave will give some kind of help or hint because I really don't want to lose anyone. Though path B is quickly escalating to not be considered "good" by any stretch of the word. The way Tyson's ends is very much framed as a... last moment together. Really hope I'm wrong.