I wanted to talk more about the purpose of the hearts in the game. They are the items that you will need in order to win the game. But what exactly are they supposed to represent? Your morality? How much Carmen loves you?
The hearts are meant to be a representation of your reputation, or how Carmen perceives you. The more hearts you have, the better your reputation is. If you have a decent number of hearts, Carmen will view you as worthy of being her friend, or she will be interested in rekindling her romantic relationship with you. If you have a lower number of hearts-- i.e., you played the game like a total asshole-- she’ll think that you have a lot to work on, and will be distrustful of you.
I was worried that some people might view this mechanic as being “too harsh”-- that Seri is expected to help others and dole out free emotional labor to others in order to be worthy of Carmen's love. While the mechanic is flawed in that sense, this was not my intention. I wanted to take the time to explain it in further detail.
The thing with getting the "alone route" is that you have to be playing it like you either 1) don't care about the other characters or 2) like you actively enjoy being a dick to some people. There are some seriously nasty ways that you can treat others in this game. While a few characters are tricky in terms of dialogue (looking at you, Lapis), most of the quests are fairly straightforward. So you're either totally selfish and don't care about anyone's problems but your own, or you just like being an asshole. Those are the two ways you can view how you made your choices in the "alone route."
Towards the end of the game, it's revealed that you have been treating Carmen poorly after she went away for six months. Rather than talking about your feelings, you took them out on her. You found little ways to "punish" her or make her life frustrating. You accused her of having an affair. While you paid the bills on the apartment for the past six months, keep in mind that Carmen has been the one who has consistently worked a full time job and paid the bills for years. This puts a lot of pressure on Carmen. She's taken on the role of breadwinner while you have been able to more extensively explore your passions, like writing. She sees your attitude towards her as being extremely unfair, and honestly, she's right. You haven't appreciated her, and in some ways, you've arguably used her. Then what do you do, after treating her so poorly?
You dump her. Yikes.
During the time that you're apart, Carmen reflects on you and your relationship. She thinks about how you have treated others, and how consistent your awful behavior has been. Were you frequently mean to others or acted selfishly? If you play the game and don't get enough hearts, she will view you as someone who refuses to confront their problems and who has been consistently selfish and mean. She will acknowledge that you have depression and that impacted your relationships with others, but ultimately, you chose to take your issues out on other people rather than seeking help. More importantly, you chose to use her as an emotional punching bag. She isn't willing to forgive you because of how much you have hurt her. In the other routes, Carmen is willing to forgive you because she recognizes that you are a good person and were respectful to others, even when you were hurting. In the friendship route, she just isn't quite ready to take you back yet. With both the alone and friendship routes, there are still hypothetical opportunities for romantic redemption: one pathway is just rockier and longer than the other.
When writing this aspect of Grunge, I really wanted to call attention to the fact that no matter what you are going through or dealing with, it is not an excuse to treat those who love you poorly. You don't get to attack, insult, or belittle those who love you and use depression/your mental health as an excuse. You also don't get to treat people like medicine. Similarly, people are not obligated to put up with your shitty treatment of them, and they have a right to walk away. In a relationship, whether with friends or romantic partners, you are supposed to support one another, but you aren't allowed to violate boundaries in order to obtain that support.