Gameplay:

I didn't understand how "when you die, it's all in vain" until my first death... bold choice to not allow the player to save, but I like it! It's also interesting that the maps seem randomized as well, almost like a rogue-like? It's a different style from other RPG Horror games, but I dig it.

Possibly the AI of the Mares could be tweaked, sometimes they would jump me pretty quickly, other times they would walk slowly toward me, other times they would ignore me completely. I tried leading them away from areas I needed to go to, but this sometimes worked and other times did not. On the map I kept getting, the Mare tended to stay in the same area. This made the game feel either too easy or too difficult, since there were large areas of the map where I did not have to worry about the Mare and other places where it was a 50%/50% if it was an automatic game over. Possibly some tweaking with the chasing mechanic could help with this?

Story:

The choice to have four protagonists is a bold one, since it means essentially writing four different stories. This game makes it work by having the main game loop being mostly identical, and the different stories being told mainly through gameplay, sprites, and end-game sequences. The bulk of the story is told through the shared world and lore, with the individual stories taking a backseat. I thought the strange video and organization, as well as the lore of the game, was pretty interesting.

I think if you were to continue working on this game, maybe a little more attention could be given to the character's stories. I only got Cyril and Minsonne's endings, but Cyril's was a little hard to follow and Minsonne's felt kind of anticlimactic, like she just disappeared afterwards.

Presentation:

There's obviously a lot of thought that went into customizing this game, even to the smallest pieces of it's UI. I especially like the video at the beginning! For me personally though, I think the general font removes some of the creepiness because of the i's looking like they're dotted with hearts.

Creativity:

Setting the game in an alternate world from the get-go, with a sort of sci-fi, fantasy horror combination setting is pretty interesting! I love the thought put behind the video sections and the other ways this game differentiates itself from both RPG Horror and more typical RPGs. Well done!

Horror:

I think a lot of effort has gone into making this game creepy, though it doesn't quite land on scary for me personally. The music is solid, the sound effects are solid... I think a lot of the horror of this game comes from the Mares, but your interactions with them are forced to be pretty limited since they kill you in two hits (or if you get stuck on walls like I do, only need one). Since there isn't a save in this game, it also kind of cuts the tension because there isn't the threat of facing that same horror again. I don't think this is bad, but possibly if it were tweaked maybe it could be scarier? Things like making Pinpin's darts last longer and adding other things to help avoid the instant kill, but also allowing the Mare to roam the map more could help with the horror of this game. Basically give the player more freedom to feel helpless, if that makes sense, giving them a little more leeway in terms of dying but also making the Mare more omnipresent and feel like a bigger threat.

Overall:

There's definitively a lot of heart that's gone into this project, and it shows. I've already talked about it but I really enjoyed the video sections, and was actually a bit disappointed that the game wasn't longer and I couldn't learn more about this interesting world. I nitpicked at a couple of things I noticed, but in general this felt like a really polished and interesting game. Good job!