Hey, returning the courtesy :]

note1: don’t know if anyone except developer sees it, but this comment is heavy on spoilers.

note2: I play like a noob and review like a tester. Experienced genre players won’t deal with half the issues I run into. I am vaguely familiar with retro horror, I mostly play what came after original Resident Evil 4.

1. quit button doesn’t work when you start the game.
2. there is a pop-up window when I start the game, similar to the storytelling screens in your game (not a modern pop-up from cmd in Windows), that disappears before I can see what’s there.
3. would be cool if you could actually swim in water instead of dying. Being wet and cold can help expand missions and the survival element.
4. I got stuck for a while because I couldn’t figure out where the backpack is on the map. maybe different color that stands out or a pop up message when you come close would be good, because I found it only after looking through game screenshots.
5. No jump, but speed up is appreciated. If the jump was an option, I’d probably try to climb rocks, shed etc while I was searching for the backpack..
6. Regarding lamp message “I need to take my backpack first”, the lamp is small, if it was in real life, I’d pick it anyway. So the pop-up about backpack could be when you see the door lock “I have key in my backpack”. …. though i get it, backpack is code for inventory option. Still, when you use other items, light turns off. It is good for the genre (especially when chased), but generally doesn’t make sense because it is hand inventory, not backpack (should be treated like a gun, not items you carry). But I come from action survival, not classic horror.
7. please note controls in game info. I had to watch 0.2 playthrough to figure out I can access backpack with Q and find a key there.
8. there is a piece of locked gate’s stairs visible on the hill (right upper corner of the stairs 3d model)
9. i liked the card puzzle
10. i somehow fell through the stairs in the lighthouse, while passing by the unlocked gates next to table with cards. the code worked on 1933 for me and 1833 for the reviewer playing 02 version. and on table it is 1935. I’m bad with puzzles in general (honestly i rely on walkthroughs, I’ve got no patience lol), can you please explain the logic?
11. would be nice to start from the place of death, I kept jumping to the bridge from the left side next to little harden, because I am too used to jump being a part of the mechanics. Though later on it is a good thing, because I had to go to the pier anyway.
12. I can’t inspect the baby in the well, message about “there’s something inside the bucket” disappears too fast to read properly.
13. the note after gates with a chain has a mistake, unless it is intended (“when I cam” instead of came)
14. having missions as sticky or diary to look into could be neat. when I found the doll with the dagger, message “I have enough research, return to docks” disappeared fast again. I almost missed where I need to go, so nowhere to read the info to guide me.
15. same as your note on my game (Carry On), I wish I could skip to specific scene (choice of dagger) so I could play different ending without playing a full replay.
16. message like “key added to backpack” can be a different color, so the player would notice you didn’t just dig up stuff, but collected (because there is no inspect key visuals, so it isn’t clear).
17. 2nd playthrough, when I take the dagger, I cannot interact with the well baby and inspect it, because E pop up doesn’t happen (disappears like in issue with well above)….and I remembered to open inventory, so all good. but still, Inspect needs to be fixed (since I saw it is implemented already, just doesn’t stay as intended). After that, everything was pretty intuitive, “what to do” was clear to me (interaction with dolls and jewels). I suppose big part is the sound design here, I wonder how would it go for people with hearing impairment.
18. there’s a place next to well where I get stuck and cannot die right away until I roam around the puddle or whatever it is, to restart or jump to crawl out.
19. Mary’s diary 3/10 (-With you?…) speech goes into “..”. I suspect your mother tongue is Russian?
20. Quit button doesn’t work after I finished true ending and automatically returned to main menu.
21. No pause button. It can indicate to the player there’s no immediate enemy or action (which can be good or bad depending on what you want).

In summary, I played 1hour 45 min. 1st playthrough was 1h, second was 45min (because I skipped all notes and lamps initially and had to come back. I do like that all notes are mandatory to read).

Of course some notes are fully my preference as a casual player and doesn’t fit the classic elements of the genre.

Overall, that’s a very neat game you got there. It is very “classy”, the map is already big, a lot to do there, a lot more can be added (either island, husband return, or what happens in the real hospital).

The haunting method with daggers and true ending, savage. It is kinda funny you reviewed my game Bluebeard, because it is pretty much the same twist.

If you plan to significantly expand on the game, I’d record a walkthrough for my channel (my first playthrough was way too long to be entertaining, I tend to delve into testing aspect too much).

Overall, it is a quality game in the retro style and classic horror genre, similar to some successfully published indies on Steam.

P.S. I read your devlog, I also got laid off recently, left with the same train of thought. Good luck on your endeavor!