Thank you so much!! This is all so sweet and in-depth that I'm sure whatever response I give will feel small.
I really appreciate everything you said, basically. I'm very glad to see you got what I was going for with everyone's relationships and the setup overall.
I really hate most stories that try to inject their abusive characters with depth and end up excusing their actions or redeeming them in some way. I think characterizing abusers as inhuman monsters is also reductive and shallow, though. Abusers often convince themselves they're in the right because they know they love the person they're abusing. It was very important to me to show that abuse can come from a place of love while still being harmful to everyone involved.
There is in fact symbolism with basically everything formed from the Break other than the mouth. I like hearing people's interpretations though, so I don't know how much I should give out publicly... I will say that if you find a journal entry near something weird, that section is usually related to what's written. All of the characters formed from the Break are also references to biblical stories. It's easiest to see with Hannah and Samuel, but even the monster that chases you has an internal name that references a popular Bible story. The dead lambs around him should be a hint as to which one.
(Also, I love talking about my own writing, so if you want to get in touch offsite I can actually tell you more about why I wrote each section lol)
Thank you again for your kind words. :] Hopefully my next game can meet expectations too