I think this might be a puzzle game getting too niche for its own good with a wider audience, in your case. I only played through to the one ending, but it had enough trappings of a VN for me to guess that you get most of your character growth or punishment after redoing the common route (basically the prologue leading up to where you get locked into one ending or another), once you get set on course for a particular ending and play it out. It’s common enough in visual novels for me to expect it and not be bothered or caught off-guard by those faults, but that’s obviously not going to play out with a wider audience if they’re not made aware of those conventions.
I think this might be a puzzle game getting too niche for its own good with a wider audience, in your case. I only played through to the one ending, but it had enough trappings of a VN for me to guess that you get most of your character growth or punishment after redoing the common route (basically the prologue leading up to where you get locked into one ending or another), once you get set on course for a particular ending and play it out. It’s common enough in visual novels for me to expect it and not be bothered or caught off-guard by those faults, but that’s obviously not going to play out with a wider audience if they’re not made aware of those conventions.