Yeah and total agreement on the surprising lack of meaning to the kidnapping. I also expected it to be a big plot point.
It is difficult to place stops in a project like this because almost no stop is satisfying, but cocking a metaphoric gun before a break and then casually revealing it was a squirt gun held by a "friend" all along makes us feel lied to and says "there are no real stakes."
And even in games like this, we need some realistic stakes. I hope there isn't some huge conspiracy or plot MC gets involved with bc those are the least believable and often pale in comparison to the human relationships. Keep your stakes between characters. No offense, but no one is going to be playing this game to find out about a crime syndicate or government plot, etc.
