It's a really cool mechanic that the candles are also your life in the game. I just couldn't get past the first puzzle. Maybe it's my 3am brain not working, because I was really trying to get it!
I might come back to this later, because the art is beautiful and the story seems intriguing. Well done!
Viewing post in The Novice jam comments
That's a pretty good hint, I finished the game! I think I had a bug happen with the salt, I kept looking for it in the 'right' way, and it wasn't there, but when I completely restarted and did that as the first ingrediënt, it was there. The collectibles were cool, but it's weird that you have to go to the main menu to see them. I thought I would get a message in that one room with how many I've found and how many I have to find.
I think one way to encourage 100%'ing would be to give a lantern after finding that room. Just get rid of the candles from then on and let the player find hints in peace :)
It was a really frustrating but also fun experience, the art, voice lines and music really made me want to come back this morning to finish it, so nice job.