It took me time to get to this entry (Spooktober is long done, lol) but I finally got to it on my list, and oh boy. Sincerely, I already had the impression I was going to find myself in a story much more serious than with other entries, and I fully support that. Horror is a genre brimming with cheap gimmicks and it's always welcomed when it's played as an honest interpellation.
Not to mention, the theme is absolutely on point. It's pretty obvious with the covid pandemic, a story like this would hit differently. More over, the more I think about it, the more I realize just how intelligent this choice of story is. You really got me thinking. You kind of reminded me of how much just went on - is still going on, in a way. The people who have gone through that didn't really have it "go away", as today's commonfolk would have themselves think.
Hell, even if I think I was more conscious than the standard when it came to the pandemic, I think it just dawned on me, just how cruel is that we are denying their experience when it hasn't even been three years - when the virus is still taking people. I mean, I have to give you people prompts at the game's content. You really brought up and offered a needed reflection, and that's the best experience you can give a player, and that's the highest praise I can think of.
I went on a tangent there and couldn't even address everything else the game has to offer, lol. I wanted to make mention specially of the music, backgrounds and sprites. It's such a strong combination of powerful feelings in sound (and I mean holysh--), expressive characters (would have liked a few differences in poses, but ultimatedly they really work) and an ambience that feel emersive and it's honestly striking in its detail (seriously, those backgrounds... the market has to be my favorite, btw.)
I could add to this the voice acting (howdy, Rachel, Meg!) making some of the scenes feel honest and painfully endeering. Having watched the death scene twice, I can tell hearing her final breaths is one of the most powerful moments of the game, which was only enhanced by an even more powerful soundtrack.
All working in service of a story that is heart wrenchingly beautiful and it's horror in so much as it reminds people of their own vulnerability. Just amazing. Good work, all of you.
A few things I think you should know - SPOILERS AHEAD:
First. Right about the time the mother is bedridden, there seems to be a mix up of scenes. It's not only the fact that the death + funeral plays twice, but also it feels like the sequence is incorrect. For example:
-I can tell from context Minerva's visit should come in between the funeral and the onset of Nonie's illness, giving them no time so they could flee to New York.
-The part about not having enough food should come after.
-The doctor shows up after the description of Magda having been taking care of her mother for days, but the scene plays out as if it's the same morning the mother fainted.
-At some point it mentions "Wiley's letter" but there was no mention of that before XD
...etc
On the same note, there are some issues with the writing. Nothing big, and nothing that can't be easily corrected by skimming through the text and polishing things. I strongly recommend adding comas lol. Other than punctuation, there are a few lines that did confuse me (sadly I can't remember where exactly, but it was around the part of the mother falling ill, or at least before Nonie falls too).
Btw, I'm gonna guess the writer (like me) isn't an English speaker. I used three beta readers for my text in our game, and they caught most if not all of my mistakes. So, I recommend that approach always.
Long story short, I think you need to go over the text and do some fixes to the writing, correct grammar if grammar needs correcting, and move the scenes to their correct order (especially this part) lol.
Also, a small thing but, in the page description where you put the voiceacting cast-- see the part where you mention Tabetha McNeal? You put her name as if she was the character and the character as if it was the actress (link included). Minor thing but I thought you might want to correct that^^
A suggestion, if I may: I'd scrap the "Paranoia Whisper" thing. In the description you mention it's supposed to make the sick paranoid but you don't do much with it. I don't know if it was an idea that was scraped, or if you were thinking of expanding the game with more content to include that, but, also, it's probably not needed (or advised, since it takes away from the reality of it all). Besides, the names comes up way too late in the story, and by that time it makes little sense to add new information. Maybe if it was a comment about how people in denial named it like that because they refused to think the sickness was real... a bit of social commentary, if you will. That I could get behind.
And another small suggestion: the CGs and menu art could be touched up a little so they look a bit more like the rest of the art of the story. I'm talking about palette, blurr and thinner lines. Whoever did those (backgrounds and sprites) maybe could try to unify the art style? I think it would improve the appeal greatly.
I'll leave it at that since I already cluttered too much space but, here's to a game well made and with loads of potential in the future too. Plus I'm still listening to the OST. Man it is crazy good...