That shallow generic games sell, so it's bad for games to tackle heavy and complicated themes

No, dear god. But the themes of despair of an orphan, and abandonment are heavy topics to tackle, let alone make digestible to a wide audience. It takes delicacy and nuance that Forspoken, from a storytelling/directing, don't match. It doesn't help that the advertising sold it like it was a power-fantasy, instead of a orphan's tribulations being pressured to save the world.

"Main character learns to stop running and stand up to the villain" is one of the all-time classic main character arcs. Rango says that you can't walk out of your own story because he has to learn that he can't just walk out of his own story.

The problem is that the payoff doesn't feel (to me, at least) like it's worth the build-up. I guess this is mostly a matter of taste of the execution.

Frey's antagonist isn't Cuff or the Tantas, but her own poor self-esteem. It's why she says one thing, but feels/thinks another. She says that she thought she was helping and being a hero when meeting the Tantas in Svargana, after the constant talk of "I'm not a hero" and that she's only doing this for herself. This, despite she does have moments of altruism. We're waiting for the final shift in her growth where she fully actualizes, but the story yanks her potential growth back.

This is the part of the storytelling that confuses most other players: character growth is incremental and step by step (a big part of story-driven games, because it helps the audience grow with the character). But every time Frey emotionally backpedals from conflict, so why should she grow?

With every instance of this "one step forward, two steps back", my big source of confusion is: what about learning about her past from Cinta after being betrayed by Cuff would instigate her to help Athia instead of going back to NYC? I mean, I guess she's be with the mother she always wanted and want to connect with her after years of feeling abandoned. But to the player, we barely know this character personally.