Hello,
I streamed your game last weekend. Overall, it just wasn't my kind of game.
Vague storytelling is never really my cup of tea to begin with, it more-often-than-not feels more like a scapegoat for not making a real effort to write a story by presenting an air of pomp and poignancy to mask the shallowness of the material; however, that said, this is admittedly very much a matter of opinion as it clearly shows that other folks in the comment section have really enjoyed the vague storytelling.
What I do personally feel is more objectively problematic with the game is the actual game play of it. The game at the start presents itself as more of a walking simulator. So when suddenly a game play mechanic was introduced, I was rather confused what was happening. It was hard to determine what was the story being vague and what was me actually failing at the game. The game had trained me to think one way, then later went back on the decision.
Once I had figured out the game play mechanic, I realized that with each loop of the game, the game would tutorialize the objects for the game play. Then, just like before, the game had trained me to interact with certain objects but at a certain point it decided to stop tutorializing new objects.
The vagueness of the story has interfered with the game play mechanics which leads to a somewhat frustrating experience as far as the game play itself is concerned. Clearly indicating when there is game play and when there is story is important for players understanding your game. I also wonder what purpose the game play serves towards the story. The game play, to me, never felt like it required much thought, skill, or even input. It seemed to serve no story purpose. It only seemed to act as busy work; checking the "this game has game play" checkbox to fullfill minimum requirements. Perhaps this game would have been better as a walking simulator? 🤔
I bring this up because what is actually captivating about this game is the first thing everyone will see: the art. Though some times detail gets lost in the overworld pixel art, the black-and-white stylings are striking, and the "bored-at-school" notebook styled doodle art for the characters is charming and unique. While the animation is pretty limited, it was a treat to see it every time a loop was completed. I hope to see more games by you in the future.
If you'd like to watch my experience with your game, I've linked the archive below. You can click the timestamps to jump to when I start playing your game.
p.s. sorry, I'm usually much quicker to inform devs that I streamed their game, but because of the holidays, I was a little slow this time.