As my game is a textventure, to my mind the challenge is more in making decisions narratively while also having some elements outside of your capacity to change, rather than in acquired skill at navigating inputs. The variable elements lead to uncertainty of outcome, which can be nerve-wracking. But the game's mechanical loop is such that you never end up hitting a wall.
I HATED that in Virtue's Last Reward and similar vizzienovs you are forced to choose options you don't want to in order to get to the "true" ending, and are forced to slam into hard stop walls that game over and then rewind you to a decision point to try again. But you have to do the wall-hitting to advance. That feels bad to me, so I am not employing that in my game. It's branching but it also continually flows. It's focusing on the narrative, and thus the "game" aspect lies first and foremost on your role-playing. There are stats being tracked, and there are elements that are randomized because a person will never truly have full control over a situation and so I want that to be reflected, even if it's in small ways, in the experience of the game (even though the player may never realize that anything is randomized or being tracked).
Circling back to the idea of the randomization being nerve-wracking, I mean this in terms of it effectively heightening the sensation that the player gets as they play through as Christine. Christine doesn't know what's going to happen and neither does the player. Some stuff is not within Christine/the player's control. This game is rife with horror elements, and the uncertainty factor adding to that sense of thrill or fear is the goal here. The uncertainties can impact the player character herself, and alter some of the narrative beats, but the story overall progresses with the player mostly in control and able to progress no matter what. The randomized elements change some of the experiences the player/Christine has. But through choices the larger picture is built by the player/Christine's actions.
The narrative here and the choices the player makes reflect back on the player. What path do they walk naturally? How might they handle some of the harrowing situations Christine faces? Many are interpersonal dilemmas, for a long stretch, before quest-related stuff becomes pertinent. The act of the decision-making in this way is not a Choose Your Own Adventure-style list of options where you have no idea whether to pick up the jeweled skull or pass the room by all together because maybe the skull is a key for a future puzzle, but also maybe it's a trap. The options in Shattered Reminiscence are focused on how the player judges others, treats them, handles crisis, trusts or does not trust. Do they prioritize empathy? Do they burn every bridge compulsively? The game will keep going regardless and things change according to the butterfly effect of the collective decisions made.
I spend a LOT of time mulling over how Étienne and Ciaran feel in any given scenario. I have altered and altered again how things pan out as the characters shape the story with me. What's important to me is that folks have choices they can feel comfortable with (within character), and play the game in whatever way suits them. The cards will fall in accordance with how they have cumulatively made decisions over time. There is no one damning choice that leads to a dead end. But also, should the player opt to reflect on the narrative and what's happening as a result of their decisions, there is room for potential self-learning and growth.