Art, music, and overall direction was, of course, great. But, it does make sense why the writing is getting a polarizing reaction.
Because, while I do think the premise is interesting and what we had was great, the messaging/theme felt pretty weak and forced — all because we don’t get to know the characters as long as we should. If we had more moments with them and their flaws (to lead into the notion that they were, in fact, toxic friends even before all the craziness went down), I think the story would’ve been more powerful even with the open endings.
I loved the mystery of the island and the surreal endings we had here were so great and landed the punch imo. It’s just the fast pace and disconnection of the character development/insight made the overall thing rather weak and a bit corny. (Especially, when Ryan tried to be explicit with the theme on the last night.)
However, this is unfortunately for a game jam, so obviously things needed to be cut to have a solid product. Still, despite its flaws, it's a great game with interesting ideas!
(Now, why was June unaffected still leaves a bitter taste but I'll just chalk it up to horror MC / final girl plot armor lol -- Would've been interesting, albeit cliche, if she had converted last minute)