It depends a bit on the game and developers in question. But generally I prefer to wait a while to make sure that I'm actually interested in playing said game, and to the game won't just waste away in my library.
Corruption by Mr.C. I feel like its one of the few mind control and corruption games that take that sort of gimmick to its natural conclusion rather than just have the MC stick with just their family and maybe a few friends.
The main problem with holiday content for me is that it often feels like it's something the dev is doing so they don't have to work on their main story content while making it look like they're adding content to their game... There's also the fact that most of the time the holiday content is...
I prefer to use walkthrough, as many have said here - I want to see all of the scenes. Not to mention that sometimes choices will lock you out of certain paths and the creator won't say when, but the walkthrough will, so it also help to create better save locations.
Astlibra had one of the most insane and plot twisting stories from a game I've played than I can remember in a long time, it was far more enthralling than I thought it would've been from first glance.
Sorta, I would say that at three stars and less I start to second guess on whether or not I want to even bother downloading the game, but usually I'm still willing to give the game a chance for myslef.