I am so in love with this story right now. I won't spoil anything, but I played through while putting all my focus into T.J. and oh my god the ending. It's so beautifully done, with such a rich display of emotion and the conclusion of finally revealing the secret like that left me almost winded. I am now in the process of playing through every distinctly unique set of choices to see where each of them leads. Also, everyone should give the band Stained Carpet some love. Their music sounds pretty good and they deserve some attention.
I have now completed two more routes and my opinion remains unchanged. This game is a modern masterpiece of storytelling and character development. I absolutely recommend playing the other routes as soon as possible. Also, get everyone you know to play the game. This deserves much more attention than it has, and it's up to us to make sure it becomes popular. Go forth and spread the good word of Echo!
I think it feels real because of how raw it is, and there was a lot of detail put into it because it is the canon ending, I think anyway. Specific events from that ending are mentioned in related works, so I'm fairly sure that it's canon. TJ was the first route that I did as well, and I am going through the rest more out of curiosity than for storyline. I will say, though, that Leo's route is very much worth a play through, even if it isn't quite as good as the TJ route. It is also full of emotion, however instead of the solemn beauty and a combination of resignation and determination conveyed through TJ, it is full of despair and disastrous events, and suggests some incredibly interesting things about Chase. Specifically for the information provided, I recommend completing both major Leo routes.