Casting calls and developer statements explicitly required this identity and sought matching voice talent, while voice actor Valerie Rose Lohman discussed personal alignment with the queer aspects. These choices foreground the identity as a deliberate element rather than an organic detail, even as the core premise revolves around grief, writer's block, and artistic struggle in an Appalachian cabin following the death of Dakota's brother Finn. Allusions to a past queer relationship appear in the personal narrative but do not drive the horror premise.

Audience reception reflects pushback, with negative player reviews specifically citing the "needless" gender identity and political commentary as intrusions. This produces a clear critic-audience gap, with critics scoring the title around 76 on Metacritic while users rate it near 4.9, underscoring how the integrated identity elements compromise entertainment value for many players despite developer responses to external labeling of the content.