Not sure what your familiarity is with the game, so I'll give an overview of the timeline in general.
Around... I think it was episode 3, we learn that the Aunt was dealing with the revelation that her son and daughter (the cousins of this game's MC) were having sex. For harem players, this started to cause alarm bells to go off in their heads, since it spelled either sharing/swinging, or a hot cousin being off limits as a love interest. The dev told everyone that Emi (the female cousin) wasn't going to be a love interest in The Cabin and that it was just for plot/character development; Aunt coming to terms with and accepting incest, Emi offering advice to MC's sister to help her realize her feelings for the MC, that sort of stuff. I think this was in the game pre-rewrite, because I remember being disappointed that it wasn't changed when the rewrite happened.
Some players still wanted more of Emi though, and the dev did a short Emi game with Jamie (the male cousin) as the MC. It was sold as a romance-focused game, and in general, people liked it. Got a Christmas special. Got another installment. This second installment started setting off some alarm bells again though. The first game ended with Emi having a video call with her friend who knew about what was happening with her and Jamie. Emi got a call right after that one and thought it was her friend again, but it was her mom who saw her and her brother in bed, naked; ever since then, their mom hadn't been answering Emi's calls or texts. So the second game starts with Emi and Jamie making a trip back home so that Emi could talk to their mom about what happened. Which means Emi making an appearance in person in The Cabin. Dev again reassures people that Emi wouldn't be a love interest in The Cabin. People were still a bit concerned though. Jaime at a few points in the second game (Long Road Home) thinks about his attraction to his mom, who is very firmly a love interest in The Cabin. The player/Jaime also has the choice to cheat on Emi. She indicates at various points that she'd be okay with sharing Jamie with other women, but the way it happens in game, Jamie is definitely cheating; the player has the choice to be completely loyal though. At one point there's a gas station clerk flirting with Emi, and when Jaime gets jealous she tells him "Are you jealous of him? Awww, [mcname], you know you're the only man for me."
But then, at some point, the dev did a poll on Patreon. And supposedly more than 90% of his patrons wanted Emi to be a love interest in The Cabin. Despite the dev saying it was never the plan for her to be a LI in The Cabin, despite the dev saying he didn't even want to make her one. He puts her in as a love interest in The Cabin anyway.
In episode 7 there's a part where Emi talks to the MC of The Cabin and basically interrogates him about what's been happening and what his intentions are with his mother, sister, and her mother. Also during the conversation Emi reveals a bit too much information, in my opinion, about her activities with her brother; what harem player doesn't love a potential love interest going on about her sexual escapades with her brother, and casually mentioning him having a big dick? Then at the end of all that, Emi asks the MC what his plans for her are. These are the responses you can choose:
Code:
"I'll conquer you too! {color=#74de62}*Emi Love Interest!*{/color}":
$ eli += 1
E "Oh really?"
scene e7s6_31 with dissolve
E "Not if I conquer you first!"
I "*Gulp*"
if lli == 1 or gli == 1 or hli == 1:
E "It sounds like you're putting quite the harem together."
E "I look forward to being a part of it."
"I've no interest in her!":
I "You're my [emcrole] Emi, and that's all you'll ever be, I'm sorry."
E "Well, I can't say I'm not disappointed, but I understand."
So no matter what you choose, Emi was willing to cheat on Jamie. Or she's now in a fully open relationship with Jamie (which still means sharing/swinging), but without the input/consent of the player as Jamie. There was quite a bit of backlash, to put it mildly. Dev then reverses course and says Emi will no longer be a love interest in The Cabin. Then there was backlash to
that as well. So the dev flipflops yet again and now says "Fine, she's a love interest again, it's on you if you decide to pursue her."
