TLDR; love the game!
As (despite being?) a cis male, reading the MC's journey of self-exploration and discovery feels incredible, kudos for so much attention on the characterization and narrative of the game. The slow burn is mandatory, and just like the MC I'm loving the teasing, especially Jen's! She's absolutely incredible, and I'm hoping you'll have the time and budget to reveal more about her!
Props for Damien and Seth too, particularly the former; the way his flaws are revealed and considered actually makes me even more fond of him, instead of antagonizing.
Wynne was a sudden reveal, and she's turning out great, IMO! Were it not for Corey being in a steampunk AR, I'd be suspicious of Wynne's true identity. Also, I'm fairly close to betting the mayor Mai is actually Dr. Boss, lol.
Carol, Amy, and Anne are also interesting characters, I'm curious how they'll continue to be part of the story.
As for the game itself, I really enjoyed the mechanics and puzzles on the underwater structure, fascinating the way those blue tiles altered the map, jumping from one collumn to the other (influence from Indiana Jones? lol), as well as the Mist and Dive spells. Not to mention that, since I've got the Shovel, I'm always on the lookout! I admit to being eager to see how innovative you'll be as the game grows.
Also, I must object on your estimation of playtime for the public release: 8 hours? Please, I'm already at 15 hours, and I haven't even tried the Reluctant path yet!
Last but not least, the tentacle spellbook? A masterpiece! Laughed and wow'd so much at all it produced! Will Jen keep teasing the MC about it? I sure hope so!
There's more that I could say, but I'll save it for another post in a future update. Very eager to know how will all the current paths and doors blocked be opened as well as what will be on the other side. I really hope you'll keep enjoying developing this game as much as we'll definitely enjoy playing it! Thank you for sharing this early release!
P.S.: If it's on your plans to eventually publish it on Steam, it will be an instabuy for me!