I think it was a great choice given the short time limit to set up the start of the story without changeable interactivity to make sure there was a solid setting for the story. I did like the weird imagery going on with the pillar.
I would have liked a bit more time to know the people involved a bit more and gotten some hints (or red herrings!) by observing what was going on to get more founded suspicions about who may or may not have been creeping into places they shouldn’t to help more build tension, and it felt a bit like I should have known them better to be able to make a choice about the ritual given they’re crew mates, but given the tight time limit of the petite mort category I can see why this may not have been possible (if this wasn’t a deliberate design choice as well! This is just something I could see allowing me to become more invested personally.) Nice game overall :)