Hey, thanks for trying out the game and for your awesome in-depth review! Some points:
- Yeah, unfortunately, it is true that the asteroid tagging component is a bit monotonous, and while it did occur to me that it does work in tandem with the narrative, I'd be lying if I said that was the primary reason as to why those segments are so drab. Instead, it's mostly because of the constraints of the RPG Maker MV engine, plus my own limited experience with the software, that forbid me from making something more interesting with that part of the game as I would have otherwise liked to.
- Your point about the branching choices (especially the first one) being a little redundant is pretty reasonable, however, I do believe the final one is nonetheless important. I'm currently working on a small update for the game that will overhaul some of the dialogue, so to accomodate for that criticism, I'll probably remove the first branch and flesh out the "going home" end screen with at least a little bit more writing to make it into a more meaningful narrative path.
- Last but not least, there are currently no other endings in the game (and to be fair, I do believe the "happy (-ish) ending" will always remain going home rather than returning to the nebula), but I have been thinking about maybe adding some extra one as an easter egg in that aforementioned update, perhaps one that's less sad and more abstract or metaphysical? Guess we'll see how that goes!
Yet again, thank you very much for your review, and I am happy that there was some degree of emotional investment in the writing! :)