Oh yeah, and I think that applies even to edgy media that doesn't pertain to pornography. It feels similar to poorly written character archetypes, especially villains, where they're made either evil to the point of stupidity, or they're made overtly goofy. If I had to guess, I'd say one of many reasons this is done is to say, "Hey! I don't support this! Please don't cancel me!"
I like what you said about making things only a bit lighthearted, as it really does seem that a balance between lighthearted and dreary is what allows players to invest into the emotional aspects of a game.
While there are certainly terrible indie games, whether they're pornographic or not, I still find myself enjoying the emotional aspects of indie games more than I do for AAA games.
PS: When you said "Goldilocks slamming shots," my dumb mind went to a really buff Goldilocks shooting hoops with the bears, before I realized "Oh! Alcohol!" I don't drink anymore, so that could be why I didn't associate "slamming shots" with drinking.
Viewing post in Second content pack for GutterTrash now out on Itch! comments
Oh definitely, for the most part the only hope of finding good games at all any more is in the small or "indie" space, and there are definitely some other small time porn games, here and elsewhere that I really like (Perfect Home of course, but Slash Cucumber XXX is also pretty great). But most here fall off into other zones, the "eh" zone of being really bland or the zone of just being incredibly unfinished and staying that way. Still a lot of space to grow, but it's a tough space, so a lot of people don't want to take the risk.