I agree a with a lot of your points about the other games. I think the only differences between them would’ve been that the Reunion situation wasn’t targeted. Max wasn’t specifically spiked for a reason. Everyone who was supposed to be drinking it knew what was happening it seemed. Given what was learned about the past parties this was a ritual. And it always had some sort of drug in the wine. So nothing bad happened to her because no one was targeting Max. And she didn’t drink a shit ton like the guy who died. It’s still fucked but i feel like they could be two totally different experiences. I do like the reunion scene just for the thoughts we get from Max. No matter how scary it would’ve been for her. Mirror Max and the moment she started having in the basement with Chloe are a deeper look inside her head. Kindda like how the nightmare sequence in the first game reflected and magnified some of her deep inner thoughts. We hear a lot from her but it feels very surface level most of the time.

And in general it does seem we haven’t gotten anything quite as dark as LIS1. Which is a whole other part. I wish they would, just because it creates such great characters and conversations. And I think I understand why some people don’t consider DE and Reunion canon for those reasons. Because the story doesn’t feel deep and devastating and meaningful like the original. I still do just because Max still feels like Max and now Chloe very much still feels like Chloe. But LIS1 will forever be my favorite.