What a great game!
Reached the ending in 58 days on my second attempt :)
The writing is great and I am really impressed by the way the narrative is introduced: the pieces of information and dialogue are consistently short and easy to comprehend, that was a real pleasure! The story was engaging too and I had some "Ergo Proxy" vibes while exploring it :)
The main mechanics are also great. And the way one of them is actually the name of your game is so cool!
Just a couple of comments that I'd like to add:
- it seems a bit frustrating, especially in the beginning, to have a choice that was not really a choice. I mean the interaction with merchants, as I didn't want to tell lies, but the game made me, though it seemed at first that I was able to choose my own path... It hurts :D
- other players have already commented on the repetitiveness — I have also struggled with it a bit. However. I cannot say it was all that bad. To have an encounter that you have already dealt with sometimes felt...soothing, hahah. I was somehow more confident to deal with the obstacles that were already familiar. I think it was a good balance, but maybe it would be good not to have the same encounter multiple times in a row. I managed to meet a shark three or four times right at the beginning of my journey as I played for the first time :)
- in the second part of my walkthrough it felt easier to escape as many encounters as possible and aim to reach my goal. Thus I have skipped several shipwrecks and merchants just to save some time. Maybe the shipwrecks didn't seem to be that rewarding...Whereas with merchants I also sometimes had two encounters in a row and there was no point in trading again. I wish that all encounters encouraged you to interact, or maybe that there were more variety to them.
- the dolphins deceived me!! shame on them! :D
I also hope that my comments on the stuff that I stumbled upon do prove that I enjoyed your game (as there was so much to think about, experience, and discuss)!