Mkay, so im gonna throw in my cents in, and it's a bit more than two cents.
My favorite thing about games, books, shows, etc. Is that you have a choice. If you're interested, you can make the choice to start the game/book/show/etc and you have the choice whether or not to finish it.
If something about the media you chose makes you uncomfortable, you can make the choice to stop and take a break. Or not come back to it at all if you dont want to. Its something I've done a few times actually!
And the special thing about visual novels, they give you even more choices. You can do multiple routes, you don't have to play it just once, you can admire all the details and the characters.
That being said, I love the game The Freak Circus. I love the story that we have so far, i love the characters and want to learn more about them, I love the world that it's set in, I love the effort that was and is being put into it. Its one of my favorite games of all time! Right below the game Hades in my favorites.
But I am so confused by the fandom. Not everyone in the fandom, but a good amount of it, seems to be really upset about one of the planned routes? To the point they seem to act like bullies? Why? What's the point? You don't have to go that route, you could choose a different one. Or you could choose not to play if the whole idea of the polyamory route (hope I spelled that right—) upsets you so much... maybe you shouldn't play the game? Or at least just don't go for that route.
Its not okay to send hate just because you don't like one thing. I've seen it in a lot of fandoms I'm in (for example: some fans being quite rude to the VA for Black Sapphire just because he was number 1 in the voting), and it honestly sickens me that people act so cruelly over something so simple.
Aren't most of you adults? Isn't it common sense to be kind and respectful towards others? Even if you don't like something, it doesn't mean you get to bully others about it.
Plus, something fun about art, "art is supposed to comfort the disturbed, and disturb the comfortable". The game is a comfort to me, art is something that comforts me, and i read the warnings and description whenever it's there. Don't you read the warnings too?
My favorite book, Hell Followed With Us by Andrew J White, has a letter from the author giving warnings about what is inside the book. And he does that for his other books too. And Neko put warnings in the description of the game, and told us some of the things planned for it.
You made the choice to play the game. You can always keep playing it, you can choose which route you want to get, and you can always choose to take a break or just stop playing.
An example of a time I've had to stop myself from reading or listening: there was a scene in one of the books I was reading back in 7th grade where one of the characters used maggots to get rid of dead/infected skin to save a characters life. I had to take a break because of boy I wasn't prepared for that! But after taking a break I got back to reading, and I enjoyed the book (which was the second book of the Nevernight Chronicles).
Another example is a time I was listening to a horror story while doing the dishes, it was a medical based horror story. It was set in a universe where monsters and humans coexisted, and unfortunately a kind of highly infectious parasite was on the loose in the hospital that the main character worked at. I had to ask my brother to stop the story in the middle when a scene where the parasitic worms erupted from one of the mc's coworkers. I haven't gotten back to that story and probably never will lol
Ever heard of "don't like, don't read"? It can also be "don't like, don't play", in this context at least.
Don't engage in something you don't enjoy, and don't spread hate about it, or harass others who do.
I'm gonna be done talking about this for now, it's almost 6am and I've been awake since 1am im so tired lmao and I need to get ready for school.
Have a good day/night chat!
