Hi! Thank you so much for playing it! It's so cool to hear the perspective of someone watching me along my dev journey, haha. This one is a HUGE shift from my previous one, it's true. It's funny, one of the biggest critiques I got (outside of the battles being a slog) is Sweet Dreams wasn't scary enough, and I'm realizing that just maybe I overcorrected a bit with this one, haha. Also, my young nephew really wanted to play Sweet Dreams so I kept it pretty PG, whereas he doesn't know this one exists so I let myself lean in a lot more. I really appreciate you giving it a go and trusting me with this MUCH darker story/theme.
(SPOILERS!) There are three endings and two ways to get one of the endings (the bad one). There's a happy ending if you manage to follow the instructions perfectly, where she gets what she actually wants at the end. The Medium ending, which ends with her wish but with a sick twist and the bad ending which you experienced. I wanted it to intentionally feel a little unfair, kind of in the thread of, people who are taken advantage of in a time of heartbreak or need because they're willing to try Anything (like psychics who offer to find your missing kid and that kind of thing). I wanted it to be cagey and hard on purpose and for most people to stumble into the Medium ending on their first go. I went back and forth on making the poems longer with more explicit instructions but I know most people don't like that kind of thing and the concept was risky enough so I decided to keep them short. AND I had a whole plot where it was a friend of a friend who comes over and introduces the main character to the concept of the letters and that would have probably given more context to the Bad Ending, but alas, time being what it is I just didn't have time and again, tried to just simplify it. So hearing your thoughts on it is super helpful and super fair. You're right that it kinda comes out of nowhere.
I am SO EXTATIC you noticed the newspaper thing!!! I was so worried no one would realize what I did there, haha. I knew that the last puzzle was too frustratingly unfair and last minute (it was one of the last things I drew) I threw that in as a gift to anyone who would replay it. I REALLY hoped it would be something you specifically only noticed on a second playthrough. I am so thrilled that's how it played out for you. Also the kettle! Haha, it's one of those things where I'm up at 1 am drawing a silly sprite thinking "no one is going to notice if the steam is rising, I'm being silly", so hearing you liked the kettle interaction just brings my heart warmth, lol.
Sorry for the wall of text, I just so appreciate your thoughtful feedback and giving my game a go! I imagine my future games will still be scary, but maybe a little less dreadfully sad in the future. This one was a little hard to work on, if I'm honest, haha. But I've got many many more stories in my heart I'm stoked to share with the world. <3