Why not have 永遠の24歳の社会人 who was their most used artist? No one knows. Maybe they're being used for the 3D game which will have 2D CGs anyway. Maybe they hiked up their prices and BBQ couldn't afford to keep working with them. Maybe they died. We just don't know and it's pointless to speculate all that much.
Personally, I have no idea what you're seeing wrong with this artist. The completed CGs look perfectly good to me. We don't even have the latest Demo on f95. The game here is a bunch of versions behind... though at this point, it's probably better to just wait for 0.34 if anyone's gonna update the demo version, because that one supposedly adds a bunch of stuff.
I could be wrong, of course, but I think
永遠の24歳の社会人 is still active as their Fanbox is somewhat active ish, at least. That said, I admit my initial criticism was a bit harsh, so let me try again.
First, the art in this new game isn’t bad, but to me, it still feels like a downgrade from before. That’s just my personal taste, though—I’m sure some people will love this new style. The idea that the original artist might have raised their prices does make sense. Their art style was a major factor in the previous games' success, so it’s reasonable for them to ask for more. While the games have great stories and gameplay (solid 5/5 there), I’m certain a good portion of the fanbase followed them specifically for the art. I mean, the first game’s story was practically non-existent, but the art carried it.
Second (or maybe 1.5), if the artist did raise their prices and the author couldn’t afford them, then that’s still kind of on the author. He’s juggling multiple projects at once, spreading resources thin for no real reason. He could have taken a safer approach—focusing on one big project or at least one major and one smaller one. Instead, he’s trying to complete 3-4 projects at the same time, and if you count ASMRs, it’s even more. Now, if
永遠の24歳の社会人 raised their rates to some absurd level, I’d understand the switch. But I doubt an artist would do something that extreme—though, to be fair, human greed knows no bounds so cant be sure of it.
Third, this is more about the game itself, but I think my frustration comes from how
mid it feels compared to
Succubus and
Nabel. It’s not just the art—gameplay, story, everything seems weaker. I know it’s still a demo, but I don’t see it reaching the level of the previous games due to its core design. I hope I’m wrong—God knows I
want to be wrong—but my gut feeling is usually right, and that scares me.
Fourth, sorry for the long reply. I know I’m technically not in the best position to criticize since I pirate these games—I live in a country where the average wage is around $600, and after bills, you’re left with maybe $100, so buying them isn’t really an option. I
would if I could, but I can’t. That probably makes me unfit to judge, but...

whatever, I guess.