The team wanted to innovate on typical dialog trees seen in role-playing video games, deciding to only reveal aspects of Kitsuragi's character in specific situations.

[22][23] ZA/UM has also highlighted Kitsuragi in appearances outside the story,[24] including marketing and merchandise for his signature jacket in 2022,[5][6] and a 2023 "Collage Mode" wherein players can arrange game characters into custom scenes.

Lead designer and writer Robert Kurvitz leaned into his tabletop role-playing game experience and the Elysium setting he had first explored in his novel Sacred and Terrible Air.

[26][28][29] The team tried to avoid the role-playing video game convention of exploring every option in a dialogue tree, instead designing Kitsuragi to share personal details only in specific situations.

[2] Although Kitsuragi was written as attracted to the same gender,[16][17][18] the game did not provide an option for the player-character to kiss him, a decision that writer Justin Keenan felt would heighten the player's desire.

In Games and Narrative: Theory and Practice, Leanne Taylor-Giles highlights Kitsuragi's reactions during the autopsy sequence for reinforcing his character while giving useful feedback to the player.

[35] In the Cyberpsychology Journal of Psychosocial Research, Piotr Klimczyk found many players felt strongly about earning Kitsuragi's approval, noting feelings of personal growth and post-game melancholy.

"[12] In Video Games, Crime, and Control, Edward L. W. Green notes how Kitsuragi's stoicism mirrors other hardboiled detective fiction, which focuses more on personal ethics than ideology or justice.

[41] Writing for NME, Georgina Young highlighted Kitsuragi as an example of the game's intelligent approach to social and cultural issues, with his fictional "Seol" heritage particularly relevant to real life.

[42] Fraser Brown of PC Gamer noted a moment where the player can attempt to challenge racism directed at Kitsuragi, describing how after "a seemingly throwaway conversation, I reconsidered the relationship between Kim and his forgetful partner, and it grounded me in the world".

[19] Madeline Carpou of The Mary Sue also reacted to this sequence as part of "one of the best representations of an Asian immigrant story I've seen in a video game" and an element of the character's overall popularity.

Lauren Morton of PC Gamer hailed Kitsuragi as the game's "breakout star", describing how "an empathetic enough detective can manage to uncover brief moments of vulnerability" in the otherwise unflappable character.

[2] GamePro's David Molke called Kitsuragi one of his favorite game heroes, highlighting his subtle reactions against the player's antics, while still showing loyalty and patience.

"[3] Diego Arguello of Inverse also praised Kitsuragi for offering a compelling contrast with the protagonist, "building an unbreakable bond of kindness that persists throughout the story".

[44] Cameron Kunzelman of Vice described Kitsuragi's dual role in the protagonist's professional and personal life, explaining that "Kim is written in such a way that I came to feel that I really knew him and why he cared about all of this in the end.

"[45] Commentators frequently mention the character's popularity and appeal,[46][47][48] with Sam Chandler of Shacknews declaring that "you will either want to marry Kim Kitsuragi or drown your sorrows in tequila.

[55] Lillian King of The Blade praised him as their favorite game character of the year, feeling that he was "[e]xceptionally well-written ... bolstered by a myriad of fleeting interactions that let players see into the detective's inner life, rounding out his complexity with the little contradictions that make us all truly, chaotically, human.

[59] An editorial panel at PC Gamer ranked Kitsuragi's non-romantic relationship to the player character as one of game's best romances, because "you have to earn Kim's trust, and ... it's something you can waste away, mak[ing] his approval all the more meaningful".