@camoceltic 
"there's a time limit on the game before it all ends in failure"

For act 1, yeah.

The start is introducing you to everything before you pick a route and work with it. 

You might end up liking it, you might not, I'm not gonna comment either way. But yeah I'd definitely push through the first act before deciding. If you've still got that time limit, you're in the first area. There's no time limit to all the rest.