Wow! This was a blast to play and pulled me in immediately.
My beast ship was very difficult to control, to the point of being frustrating at a few points, but I will give you tremendous props for making it feel weighty -- there is immediately an impression that this is a large, unwieldy creature that is difficult to steer. I also love the ability to upgrade your ship, although I do feel like the options were a little underpowered. For example, I wish the lights had illuminated things better or maybe extended my viewing range.
I love the allusions you make to a deeper lore. The text, the aesthetic, the audio -- everything is suitably mysterious and eerie. There's some really nice worldbuilding here, and you made really good use of the theme!
Overall I found this game unexpectedly relaxing. It was quite a zen experience cruising around in the darkness snagging pick-ups while looking for the next island to visit. Also, oh my god the artwork in this is beautiful; I'd love to know what you used to create it -- it almost looks vector based, but I think I see a lot of subtle texturing here and there, so I'm guessing Photoshop?
You did a great job with this!