Thank you for taking the time to respond!
As for the character changes, that’s actually just them opening up more with time! For instance, K lowered her guard as she got to know the others (causing her immature streak to show); Yana showed that there’s more to her than just being nasty when truly awful things such as murders occurred (she does have empathy, of course); etc. No mind-altering substances, haha! And like you said, in Kostya’s and Mikhail’s cases, the former is facing heavy psychological impacts from the competition and the latter is getting more comfortable showing his true colors with time.
Even if the pacing and structure didn’t suit your taste, we’re glad that there were aspects you enjoyed! And that you’re willing to be so fair; many people will just play a few minutes and turn it off if they’re not crazy about it (especially with indie games!), so we’re grateful for the fact that you viewed several hours of content before making a judgment.