Ahh, okay - definitely respect the intention, but I think going with something like that so early on can make the narrative feel sluggish at best, and like it's hit a dead end without the player knowing it at worst. Still, excited to give it another shot!
Following up, it's interesting! I really wanna start by saying, as someone else who's had a shot at turning around a bit of interactive fiction for a game jam, my god is it hard, and my god have you done a better and more substantial job of it that I ever have. More to the point, you've got a really solid concept, the sort of thing you can really sink your teeth into. I think though, there's a bit of a feeling that the plot is getting away from you? There's all these ambitious ideas and concepts and stats to keep track of, but unless you can let the player fully interact with them, the game can maybe feel a bit lacking in depth/variety.
Maybe a good way to refine it would be force yourself to rewrite the story to take place over... a week? Three days? Not only can you keep up your story's momentum a lot more easily, but when you're not focused on writing a month's worth of content there's a lot more room to give the player some sense of freedom/deeper involvement.
Really hope this doesn't sound negative - I just sincerely love a chance to chat about writing in games, so the fact you've given me such a cool piece with so much to chat about is really all I could have asked for!
Thank you so much for such detailed feedback! It really means a lot to me. Yeah, I totally get the pacing is super off for the game. A repeatable 3-day to week experience sounds like a much better format!
Player interactivity is something that as you pointed out is very lacking too. I think this may have just been due to time constraints from me though. I initially had CRPG stat checks and such planned for them (hence the more ambiguous names of the stats).
Thank you for your honest feedback. If I feel like revisiting this game, I'd likely employ the changes you mentioned. At the very least though, I'll keep your advice in mind for future games I make. I'll be sure to check out your entry as soon as I have time!