So long story short, I extracted the data from the game. I was originally planning on making little changes here and there to the models but I had no interest when I actually got my hands on them.
Turns out the models (the close-up ones) are very high-poly and triangulated, making it annoying to try to edit any amount of wireframe.
It's also almost impossible to move and pose the models around properly without the original bones and shape keys they come with. And as someone who had no interest in looking through every single file to find bones, there wasn't a lot I could do.
So I basically decided to bite the nail and make my own replicas of the models (since I have done that before) so that I can have proper models that I can do whatever I want with without having to worry about some type of missed credit and bad quality down the line. I decided to start with Hitch since he's the OG heartthrob but I do plan on making Sprout down the line and maybe even some OC's, IDK.
Also, on the in-game models the brows are baked into the textures while I plan on having them be seprate meshes that I can move around freely.
I'm curious on what you guys think so far (don't drag me please lol).