What a great game!

Reached the ending in 58 days on my second attempt :)

The writing is great and I am really impressed by the way the narrative is introduced: the pieces of information and dialogue are consistently short and easy to comprehend, that was a real pleasure! The story was engaging too and I had some "Ergo Proxy" vibes while exploring it :)

The main mechanics are also great. And the way one of them is actually the name of your game is so cool!

Just a couple of comments that I'd like to add:

- it seems a bit frustrating, especially in the beginning, to have a choice that was not really a choice. I mean the interaction with merchants, as I didn't want to tell lies, but the game made me, though it seemed at first that I was able to choose my own path... It hurts :D

- other players have already commented on the repetitiveness — I have also struggled with it a bit. However. I cannot say it was all that bad. To have an encounter that you have already dealt with sometimes felt...soothing, hahah. I was somehow more confident to deal with the obstacles that were already familiar. I think it was a good balance, but maybe it would be good not to have the same encounter multiple times in a row. I managed to meet a shark three or four times right at the beginning of my journey as I played for the first time :)

- in the second part of my walkthrough it felt easier to escape as many encounters as possible and aim to reach my goal. Thus I have skipped several shipwrecks and merchants just to save some time. Maybe the shipwrecks didn't seem to be that rewarding...Whereas with merchants I also sometimes had two encounters in a row and there was no point in trading again. I wish that all encounters encouraged you to interact, or maybe that there were more variety to them.

- the dolphins deceived me!! shame on them! :D

I also hope that my comments on the stuff that I stumbled upon do prove that I enjoyed your game (as there was so much to think about, experience, and discuss)! 

The setting of the story, the harshness of the sea, and the people's treatment toward the main character, as well as the conclusion, were very well written!

I agree with some of the critics; maybe the interactions with the merchants could have had variations or different outcomes depending on their flags. Same for the pirates, giving up ressources to prevent a fight or a pursuit depending on their flags.

It felt a bit repetitive at times, but the story was interesting enough to keep me going, and I managed to arrive at the Strange Havens after my second playthrough.

I really enjoyed your game. Great work!

I can't believe it was your first publication and you did everything alone! 

I especially loved the setting you created. It's very clever and artistic at the same time. In my country, we have a traditional painting called 병풍 (in English, it's called a folding screen) to describe nature, and your setting reminds me of that so much! 

I also like the way you add details little by little. It made me feel like I was slowly and deeply drawn into a fantastical wolrd. Even though I couldn't breathe, I never wanted to be saved from the water you made me drown in. 

I loved the writing. Especially the introduction. But also the nightly episodes. A very interesting story unfolding!

I did not like, that the only way to deal with merchants started with lying. Whether they had golden or iridescent or whatever kind of a flag, none of them wanted to deal with me, unless I lied. 

There seems to be an interesting underlying mechanic under it, and I saved the game to possibly continue at a later point, but even the great writing that I wanted to find out more of did not get me to want to go trough the same interactions. Just when closing the game, I clicked for the hint of "don't underestimate the fish" so I guess there is something more to discover in the interactions. Same choice, same outcome, can have mechanic depth that I've yet to uncover. Right now it felt like tedious grinding instead of experiencing the story. But guess sailing can get repetitive and tedious?

I'm still intrigued by the mystery, and whether it is good and worth it to go to Safe Havens. I got to the point where it said "I'm halfway to Safe Haven's". 

Great job on a first game submission! Some art or exploration mechanic for the gold finding might work for the game? 

I really liked how the text appeared, it was nice to read, and as dialogue options it flowed technically in a nice-to-interact-with-text way.

I loved the language, the integration of the glossary, the seamless gameplay, the premise, and the navigation system where the sun indicates north at sunrise, the water's reflection for the afternoon, or the constellations in the sky at night. The typewriter sound effect is incredible! This is probably the game I've enjoyed playing the most so far! :)

==== Since some people are struggling and going for a second playthrough, I'll leave some tips that helped me reach the end, without giving away any story spoilers.

1. The water conditions depend on the trend of occurrences, so your actions should be based on the water and what you need. Everything starts here.
2. It's crucial to catch fish and get used to the high consumption of rust, adapting your gameplay to always act with a depletion mindset until you discover the functionality of this resource and the future blessings.
3. Whenever you have the opportunity to catch a dolphin, in my experience, take the shortcut. Playing it safe is rarely worth it.
4. When encountering a merchant, never assume you are the captain. One coin buys rust or hull repair, so balance wisely. If you have a choice, always buy ammunition, usually 2 coins for 1 unit.
5. Try to search for shipwrecks as much as possible; it's your chance to gain gold, a cannon, and ammunition initially. Very important! When you have the opportunity to dive for more gold, it's better to do it early and have oil stocked to combat rust. The best balance I found was 2x gold search per 1 oil, aside from daily rust consumption. After that, focus on minimizing rust, so the ship's hull needs to be in good condition.
6. Defeating pirates might seem appealing, but in my experience, the loot is poor compared to other options, and I lost 2 games because I engaged in fights without enough ammunition. In one game, I had 4 shots and missed three times, and in the other, I didn't lose but had 9 shots and couldn't destroy the pirates, leading to my ship sinking soon after. :P Of course, you might get lucky and defeat a pirate who gives you 16 gold coins. Every case is different.

Are these pro-gamer 360 no-scope tips? No, definitely not, but they will help you get there!

Awesome work! I really enjoyed this. I did not realize that swimming under water was causing me to rust haha so I ended up rusting away on day 30-ish. Really cool work!

Nicely put together! I really love the setting you built, the way you slowly added more and more details really helped draw me in. Unfortunately I never made it to the strange havens, I was moving fast in safe waters, slow in perilous, etc and making good progress but a storm completely flipped the script on me at 39 days and I was never able to quite recover. I was probably playing a bit too cautious though when it came to events. I think more visuals could help quite a bit but other than that, I loved it and it was a ton of fun to play. Great job!

I only played once, but I am impressed by the level of thoughtfulness in it. The story itself seems to be well-written, at the same time, a lot of thought has gone into making meaningful interconnections between the parameters in the game (ammo, hull, oil), that further influences the way the story evolves. 

It's never easy to make a free-flowing interactive fiction that allows for a substantial degree of player agency. I know, because I have tried and failed in varying degrees,

Even though there is a slight repetitiveness to the story, the system you have managed to create overshadows it. This is because it is this repetitiveness in situations that allows you to test things repeatedly and get informed feedback on what to do next. This game also seems to allow for different play-styles!

Also, this repetitiveness gets delightfully cut by narrative pieces now and then. It's also quite nuanced the way the situations play out a little differently when your parameters reach a dangerous level. 

Well done! I'll find out the secrets of Strange Havens one day! And damn, I will crack that fish too!