I’m really glad the reviews are positive… I was able to enjoy the first game despite its flaws, and I enjoyed this one too (at beta). It’s good and long; the big conspiracy comes together fairly well; it sets up a promising sequel.
But I really struggled with the plausibility of making life-or-death decisions via reality show, and that’s pretty fundamental to the whole concept. I didn’t like the fact that the MC doesn’t get the option to radically question this. Yes, you can initially think the show is “beneath you,” and you can prioritise Jenny’s investigation over winning.
But for all that, at least in the beta version the MC stayed emotionally engaged with the Hero Project (excited! thrilled! nervous about getting kicked off!) even after it became clear just what a terrible idea it is to fight a terrorist team via reality show, and how much more important stuff was going on just under the silly, shiny surface.
Notably, there was a choice: “How do you feel about being involved in such a high-profile mission?” where I really, really wanted an option for “I think it’s appalling that they’ve entrusted a vital national security mission to a bunch of contestants on a f—ing popularity contest which includes at least one known supervillain.” Unless an option along those lines ended up in the final game, I guess the author decided that would be out of character…