This trailer is the selling point they are using though. Friendships and record aside do you think this was good promotional material?
I think it looks pretty solid given the fact that this is a family studio of a husband, wife, and kids (and maybe a few other employees, they clearly have a lot of artists but those are usually contract gigs in a studio like this.) As somebody who has shipped a game out of my house and is currently working on another, producing something under those conditions is already tough enough. It's pretty laughable that people are dismissing it as "incel trash" or whatever given that the core dev team is literally a married couple.
I also think it looks rough, but it's an early kickstarter dev video. It shows you the idea for the game, that they have enough of a product to show off gameplay segments, and that combined with past track record should give consumers the confidence to make a decision. That said, past performance is a huge factor. If you're worried about the writing, well, look at the writing in Perception, which won several awards at various festivals for Best Narrative. Or listen to any of the talks that Amanda Gardner has given at GDC or GaymerX or Narrascope about the writing process and style.
So yeah I guess it might be terrible, any game in development can be terrible, devs I love have made games I hate. But the immediate dismissal out of hand seems wild to me.
