I agree; the impression I’ve had was that many of this year’s selection of Heart’s Choice games have been very solidly well-received. Ultimately my opinion on “the point of HC” has not changed since I posted about it about this time last year:
CoG games cannot be gender- or orientation-locked, and there are very few HGs with gender-locked protagonists, let alone M/M or F/F; HC games include guaranteed romantic happy endings which is by no means a given on other labels. HC provides authors who want to write games that fit their style with an advance, which is nothing to be sniffed at. The games aren’t universally less popular than other labels (I have seen numbers that very much confirm that), and even if they were - that wouldn’t mean they’re pointless. People enjoy underrated games all the time. I’ve seen plenty of disdain about the entirety of the CoG label, or about HG games outside of the blockbuster heavy hitters - that doesn’t mean they have no value or indeed popularity.
I do not have any particular horse in any debate over the merits of this particular game - I enjoyed it but understand why someone else wouldn’t - but I find it odd that someone not personally enjoying one, or a selection (or even all!) of the games from a label should mean that the label as a whole is too flawed to exist.