Ok, so, here's my review. I'm going to rate it based on the latest version, which fixed a few issues, namely a few of the puzzles:
SPOILERS:
Gameplay:
There's puzzles and chases, with randomized Pinocchio showing up from time to time. The puzzles are great, the chases... well, those could be done better. Pinocchio is... well, he's not smart. You can just interact with a hiding place right in front of him and he disappears. And if you know he's coming, you can just run away from him and he has no chance to catch up.
On the other hand is the only situation where he can reasonably kill the MC and that's when he suddenly appears right in front of the door in your way and you run into him by mistake. Well, the game doesn't care about health in that case, the damage event triggers multiple times at once and you just get a game over, even on Easy where you have 200 HP. This was thought to be related to lag in the browser version, but from watching videos of the game where they played the downloadable version, well, it seems like it's not limited to the browser version.
The final chase with the large version of Pinocchio is actually great, especially how he jumps in front of Mia midway through, catching the player off-guard.
Overall, the gameplay is alright, the puzzles save it from a lower rating. If it were only the random Pinocchio chases, it would be 1 star lower. But it had the potential to be much better.
3 Stars!
Story:
Well, it was a fun and silly story about a murderous version of Pinocchio. It also has way too many bizzare plot twists and it was hard to suspend my disbelief at times. Like for example, Geppetto's plan is... well, if you think about it even a little, it just doesn't work. Why did Gepetto need to have Mia run around the mansion trying to solve the puzzles to open the way to the underground church while being hunted by murderous Pinocchio? He needed her alive and his plan falls apart without her.
For example, Mia has a very... sparse characterisation and despite Geppetto being openly abusive towards her, she doesn't seem to be very afraid of him or distrustful, instead she seems to care about him a great deal and he seems to know it, since he uses that to manipulate her into dealing with Pinocchio and going into the church. So why not instead just ask her to go to that church with him. If she were reluctant to trust him and he had to trick her somehow, that could make sense, but this way it just seemed like it was there to justify the gameplay.
Also, why not just find some woman who was his wife's age and looks like her and do the soul transfer ritual with her instead of waiting 30 years to raise a child and then do the ritual? Also, the jewel supposedly grants wishes, so why doesn't Geppetto wish to bring his son and wife back to life instead of going with that soul-transfering method. There's no real explanation of that.
The vast majority of the endings are tied to one scene at the very end. I feel like there should've been atleast a couple additional possible ending before you reach that point. Still, it's a game jam game and atleast it's great that you give the player the option to easily get all of the endings without needing to replay the whole game multiple times.
3 Stars!
Presentation:
Alright, so, the music is great, as are the sound effects (except when Pinocchio gets stuck somewhere or you run into him and the scissors sound gets played about 60 times per second) as are the graphics, mostly. There's a slight inconsistency between the art when it comes to sprites, for example, Mia is fully animated with an elaborate idle animation, while Gepetto is fairly static compared to her. Also, Gepetto looks the same when he's 38 years old as he does when he's 60. I guess making marrionettes is the secret to eternal youth. Still, those are relatively minor issues.
I'm just gonna ignore the "adjustments" to the sprites of Mia and Geppetto in the latest version and rate the original sprites.
4 Stars!
Creativity:
Well, if there's anything that can be said about this game, it's certainly that it's creative. Especially the puzzles and although the gameplay with Pinocchio has serious issues, it's also creative.
5 Stars!
Horror:
I think the game did well in this category, although it's nowhere near the level of A House for Alesa or even some of your older games such as Phantoms in the Camp. Still, I'd say it's above average.
4 Stars!
Theme:
There's a cursed jewel and you've implemented all of the bonus challenges as well. That said, the jewel itself isn't really the focus of the story, more so the catalyst for the story. Still, I'd say it was a good take on the theme.
4 Stars!
Overall, it's not your best work. However, it was still a very good game, especially the puzzles were very good (save for the original version of the picture puzzle). Looking forward to your next game!