I buy them if I like them, and it usually doesn’t take the whole game for me to decide if I like them. Most of the time, I decide within the first two or three chapters.
I’m someone who looks forward to romantic content in interactive fiction, so HC has been a godsend for me.
I fully admit, maybe I have a biased since I have really only completed 3 as I mentioned in my initial post. And I agree with both you and saggittarius that All World Pro Wrestling ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶e̶s̶t̶ seems to be an outlier from the other two I have played, but I feel like my main point still stands.
I guess my point is look at HC games like CoG games that don’t “fade to black” when it comes to sex. And then look at the various chilly pepper ratings that are next to the title to get an idea of how graphic the adult content will be. But don’t look at it likes its the focus (even if we wish it was), again its just a CoG game that has parts that are only for adults.
What I know is that the HC label exists to allow genderlocking and/or set orientations, which are outside of CoG’s criteria/brand.
Iirc, some CoG like Werewolves 2 do feature sex scenes, not just fade to black. But they seem to be the exception to the rule.
Precisely.
Plus, the ROs (at the least the male ROs) have been so bland and underdeveloped that it’s like reading two cardboard cutouts get together. Even if they were smutty (and I love smut!), I wouldn’t stay interested because I don’t care about the characters.
Someone else said this above–if you can take the romance out of the game and the plot stands alone, then it’s not a romance. For a romance to work, the two have to be so intertwined that you can’t have the plot without the romance (or, at the very least, an almost soulmate-friendship between the MC and would-be ROs).
No matter what the reason for HC to exist is, and what expectations people have, I think this thread has made it clear that there is a segment of readers, who would like to see an even stronger focus on romance, at least in some of the HC games, in the future.
I’d agree except there’s been more and more games being marketed through the other two channels with very adult themes (not just X rated). I’ve also been concerned this might cause an issue where games aimed at young children are in the same app as games marked for mature audiences but 
Not sure that is the reason for the separation based on that aspect.
Not all HC do fall into that very mature audience category as well as some are marked “candle lit” which I believe means any scenes in there that aren’t suitable for general audiences tend to “fade to black” so to speak.
This is so interesting to me because I feel like HC games are not smutty enough! and this is probably because I only play HC in which you can play as a female. Whenever a new HC comes out I’m always disappointed by the smut level. I feel like screaming “more smut please!”
I thought that a more romance based app would include more ~sexy writing or at least less fading to black but that has not been the case so far unfortunately.
I love the idea of HC, a romance focused game with mature content that can be specific to types of protagonists (straight females, lesbians, gays, etc), but the titles I’ve read end up- short? It has more romance than say, CGs, but far less than HGs that do romance. Wayhaven is in a league of it own and should not be compared since its on the level of vns and otomes.
What I’ve come to love though, is the found family that seems to be a focus on most of the HCs I’ve played. The family that will be there for you and accept you no matter what 
Any that does it well is a win for me. Regarding smut or explicit content, all I can say is I’ve given up.
I disagree with not using Wayhaven as a comparison.
It is still a choicescript story, and a romance focused choicescript app should aim to have good romance. Future stories should definitely be measured up against other books, from HG, that have well written romance. That would include, but is not limited to, Wayhaven.
Pay for everything and play nothing. So far, that’s my journey with HC’s. Still waiting for something that will catch my fancy.
Adding on to the slightly off topic discussion…
I personally would not generally purchase HC titles after feeling slightly burned (no pun intended) by my first outing with one, Brimstone Manor. Not to get too deep into it, but it never felt like it delivered what was promised in the description, or the (maybe misunderstood) mission statement of Heart’s Choice. I think the lack of variety in HC, likely due to no fault of anyone but circumstance, pushes the self-insert crowd away and the focus on story against variety and stats pushes the gamebook crowd away.
Even with being regularly involved, I did not realize most HC were free-ish. Being completely separate from the website also meant that I often just straight forgot that they existed for a long portion of time, only reminded when Steam recommended them to me.
This right here. And on top of that: the Hosted Games model doesn’t work for every author. Working for years on a huge piece of work without an advance is not something many professional writers can afford to do. And the community structure of Hosted Games provides a lot of built in marketing and socialization for the game, but it’s still work, and energy that could instead be going towards paid work.
So I’m grateful that Heart’s Choice is here to provide a professional-friendly pay and editorial structure while also providing different guidelines and standards (like for adult content and genderlocked PCs, etc). I think it’s worthy as an imprint. I just hope they’re able to get a few more titles out the door to hopefully make it more popular.
I would totally pay for another 2 instalments of Freshman Magic: Spellbooks and Tangled Sheets.