Ngl I had been losing interest a little bit in terms of how the surreal elements of the story were implemented, but, I loved the new intro and thought it did a way better job of setting up the rest of the story, or at least what I can picture of it at the moment. Although it somewhat concerns me just how much attention is brought to his body in only that first day, I absolutely love Hiro and he's probably my favorite character so far aside from Grey. I like that he is highly intelligent but also doesn't scoff at superstition or personal beliefs.
I just thought that Virgil in particular, and the means by which Grey is able to actually meet the other characters felt like it could have done with more explanation previously, while still keeping it as a point of intrigue of course. I think the new opener does that, by giving a little more information to go off of and solidifying what I personally feel like Virgil's role in the story is, where previously I had no clue if he was meant to be an actual antagonistic force, or just using a very powerful motivator on Grey (fear). In the other routes, there isn't as much going on with the surreal elements, aside from Mark's, so having more of those scenes in Hiro's route also made it seem like it was a bigger part of the story overall, as opposed to just like, the plot device by which things are happening. Like the ending scene of this build was cool, albeit confusing.
I think the reason we see more of that in Mark's route is because it was the one that got the most updates so far. Personally, i really like the intrigue as to what even are Virgil's intentions with this, but i don't expect to learn anything until much further in development still. At this stage though, i do think the story is intentionally vague so as to leave us guessing and trying to figure things out on our own. Which, understandably, can feel a bit uncomfortable since we have to wait for new updates to get more pieces of the puzzle.
My biggest problem so far is that there are clear "good guys" and "bad guys" among the love interests. Mark is controlling and possessive, and Ken is intensely violent with barely any provocation. Meanwhile, Gabe's just a sweetheart with low self-esteem and Hiro's a loveable nerd. Unless Gabe and Hiro are secretly monsters, I don't feel like I've been given reason to care about Mark or Ken over the good boys. They're still compelling characters, sure, but not very likeable. I'm genuinely confused as to if we're even supposed to be rooting for Grey to get with them at this point. It's entirely possible that we aren't; this is primarily a horror story, not a rom-com. Still.
Ken seems to have a bipolar disorder or double personality. For now i would say he is more of a loose cannon. It's hard to say how much of what he does is him.
Mark though, if he is indeed the perpretator of things the story has implied there's no excuse. Emotional trauma doesn't absolve you from culpability, it merely gives context.
We often equate character routes to romantic routes, but that doesn't have to always be the case. It's not impossible for Grey to not end up with any of the main characters, because that might not be the point to the story. Considering what's been presented so far, the goal seems for Grey to save those characters, potentially from themselves, and in turn learn to value his own.