i'm sorry you made this in 3 weeks?? how??? that's time management skills some would kill for lol. this was really great!! :>
(SPOILERS)
the vibes here are top notch. a college student who doubles as a homicide detective is such a cool idea, and oliver was super charismatic and did that concept a ton of justice! i love his stoic nature, how the game's narration conveys his thoughts, his sudden bursts of emotion (specially when he lashes out at edward in the first chapter-), his drug-induced cheerfulness when he gets kidnapped... basically everything about him lol. his obsession with solving cases made it so i never forgot i was playing a detective story. on top of that, everything feels appropiately gritty and mysterious, along with having a really funny sense of humor that i think sets this game apart from similar stories! sometimes the game veered a bit too far into silliness for me (especially considering how the moments where it focused on the darkness/tragedy of the plot where a LEGIT gut punch, like when oliver finds emma's body or when he breaks the news to her mother), but that's just personal taste and tbf i can't say i wasn't warned there'd be humor at inappropiate times haha.
like your last game, the art is SO SO GOOD UGH I WANNA EAT THIS STYLE- all the characters had REALLY great designs and all the backgrounds were REALLY pretty. once again i love how the cutscenes kinda look like comic panels? omg everything just has such a nice flair... and that's not mentioning the small details that tie everything together! the falling snow, the fading footsteps, the colored backgrounds that appear when characters have strong emotions, the dye that covers the screen whenever something horrible happens, the custom mouse cursor?!? everything comes together so beautifully; you genuinely have one of my favorite art styles i've seen in any jam game! :D and that's just the visual aspect of the presentation, because the music was also so so great and you also made it all yourself??? i'm kinda jealous ngl HAHA. the songs were fantastic for every scene they were in, whether they were atmospheric, comedic, suspenseful... this game effortlestly fires on all cylinders with its presentation!
the story was great too! it was a really cool investigation with a nice pacing that never makes the plot feel stagnant. i think it might've been a bit too... dark for me, but that's what i get for not paying attention to the warnings lmao. and hey, the characters were light and charming enough to balance out the darkness of the story haha. i've already sung my praises about oliver, but his mother was also pretty funny and entertaining (as funny and entertaining an emotionally abusive gaslighter and potential murderer can be at least-), emma was cute in her tragically shortened screentime, i hope edward rots in jail but it was funny how much of an incel he is, emma's mom made me go from laughing to crying in the span of five seconds, clock is the best character any human has ever conceived... and minor characters like abbott, the two girls at the park or the kidnappers are still super memorable and charming, which is really impressive considering how little they talk! and every character aids the story in their own way and makes everything feels really well put together.
there were some things i didn't love; like i said the silliness of some scenes kinda took me out of the story and i wish it was a bit toned down (again, that's just personal taste tho). and some puzzles were kinda frustrating to figure out, i pretty much got through the forest bit with sheer luck, and i spent a pretty long time trying to find the flowers i needed for emma's mom (istg that potted plant in the first floor was taunting me-). and i think the mother being related to the murders was a tad obvious? maybe making her mental instability more subtle would've helped make the reveal she's involved in all this be more impactful. that's just me idk, reveals being "obvious" or not is one of the most subjective things in mystery stories so ignore me if you want lol.
overall i really loved this game!! had too many memorable moments to count, and i'm really intrigued to find out what happens next! :D