Semi-on-the-fly remarks:
- Controls are QWERTY-only instead of layout-independent (I have an AZERTY keyboard), BUT arrow keys are enabled. Still, this make Left Control harder to reach.
- When you get the eighth rule, I remember this sound from "Civilization II"! :)
- The game page states that Left Shift allows you to sprint, but I am still walking.
- Haha, love the implicit meta-humour about the clothes, right before the fight! XD
- Space allows you to skip the cutscene, and Escape goes into pause mode; I think you should mention it on the game page.
- I have trouble getting how to fight… Does the guard only reduce the damage you take? And can the other guy inflict hit points on us from behind him??
- Sounds are nice in general.
- Ah, got how to deal with the fight: guard continuously, and hit while turning around him! Which made me win easily, this time. I wonder whether allowing the player to both guard and hit at the same time is giving him too much power…
I realize crouching may be useless, or at least dispensable (could it help during the fight?), as I ended up not using it besides testing the keys. Ironically, running would have been more useful, to deal with the first phase!
Takeaway: there is clearly a narrative drive at work here, as can be seen through the cutscenes, and especially the final one. I think you could spice up the game seriously by putting more challenge in both the clue-searching phase (so that we have to think more; for example, select the correct dialogue, or give the right password) and the fighting phase (which may seem super hard at first glance, but almost becomes a piece of cake once you noticed what I wrote above).
So, there is narration, humour, and a setting; developing the game mechanics would make the game feel even fuller. Still, beware, as it can be hard to handle several genres at the same time! (Remember The Nomad Soul, which was interesting but had trouble unleashing the full potential of all its aspects.)