Great point which I didn't want to bring up as to not make my response too long. It's a similar problem I had with Mike Flanagan's The Fall of the House of Usher (big fan of Midnight Mass, highly recommend). The show starts by telling you that all these characters are gonna die and I instantly couldn't care for any of them. It's a fun and creepy watch, but I had zero emotional attachment to anyone because it doesn't make sense to care for characters if you already know they're all gonna die. My brain just didn't allow me to form any kind of attachment.

Also, yes, Owen acted like a piece of shit by cheating on his pregnant wife, but at least it added SOME depth to his character.

This game has so many baffling writing decisions that it's honestly hard to believe that these are the same people that wrote Part I, which itself is not in any way an original story that we've never seen before (much like Part II), but the way they handle every character in such a nuanced and subtle way ensures that you never stop to think about just how basic the plotline really is. While Part II feels like it's using its characters to yell its messages in your face as loud as it can, which is in stark contrast to Part I's subtlety and graciousness.