Sorry for writing this feedback a bit quickly and not catching every fish before I finish writing it. But I spent several hours playing this game already, and apparently I should be writing feedback during the rating period rather than take my time and write more complete feedback.
Graphics: The environment was interesting, although a bit sameish. Water and rocks everywhere. It was easy to get lost. But after a while I knew a few landmarks: the dock on the lower ground, the tower/lighthouse, the rocks that can later be destroyed, the bones… And once I knew those I could navigate my way around.
And I think the logo looks pretty and fits the game being set in an environment where handwriting is still common, and the horizontal lines above the words sorta suggest the surface of the water, but I feel like it could have looked better without the horizontal line on the word “the” (and the diamond above the e in that word). And maybe I’d replace the diamonds over the “ee” in “deep” with boats, removed the horizontal line above “ones” and replaced the diamonds above and below “ones” with fish. (I also sorta feel like that font is trying to look like the text is in another language.) Maybe making waves on the horizontal lines could help representing the ocean.
Sound: The music was interesting, changing between areas, and the sound effects worked well too.
Fun: The game was fun for a while, but having to catch lots of fish over and over to save up to be able to maybe find a particular fish when it’s determined by what seems to be RNG gets boring quickly if the RNG keeps giving you other fish instead.
I found both keys, and then got capsized and told to look for some mind fish that was near the bones of its prey. I tried to find it near the place where it had got me, as well as in the place where there’s visible bones, but it didn’t appear again. I did try with various items, but getting all items and having to get some of them over and over seemed like it could take a long time, and with the rules saying everyone must play every game I can’t quite put as much time into testing each game as I’d like to. And with no way to continue from where I left off, I’d have to start over completely, which seems kinda slow.
Nineties: I like the fog that still lets me see silhouettes of fairly distant objects. Without those silhouettes, it would be easy to get lost, in fact it happened a few times. The water animation too looks good and nineties. I would maybe have preferred that animation to have a slightly higher framerate.
What I liked most: The fog and the font.
What I’d suggest changing: A way to save progress.