I really liked the story and the characters! I felt like I wanted to get to know them better. The art style of the busts was super cute and I really liked the character designs. The map tiles were lacking a bit of depth but I really liked the color palette switches for night and day, it gave a really unique vibe! The dream sequences were also great and scary, I wanted to spend more time in the dream world. Overall, I really liked it and I think it could be really strong if there was a bit more story added, maybe some more dialogue, and some time spent delving deeper into the motivation and struggles that Sarah was facing realizing what was going on!

Gameplay:

The gameplay was okay, maybe a little on the simple side. Since there was a chase at the end, maybe there could have been more chases added? Maybe something stalks you in your dreams, maybe it looks like a large monster until the reveal at the end?

I didn't dislike the VN style picking choices either, though again I wish there were a bit more of them! I did like seeing all the different responses to the things I picked, and am only sad that there wasn't more things (and more consequences) to explore.

Story:

I liked the writing at the beginning, seeing the characters interact and show off their personalities. I thought maybe Sarah was a silent protagonist except when she started talking...? I didn't understand why sometimes it showed her bust sprite and other times it didn't.

Anyways, the endings I got felt... maybe a little rushed? I was hoping to learn more about the characters, Settler's Camp, and the details about the "monster" in general but a lot of these things were left unexplained. I'm also still wondering about Ash saying that the "monster" must have been something big, but it isn't really brought up again?

Presentation:

The bust sprites were really cute! They added a nice touch whenever the characters were talking. The tilesets and sprites were simple, but effective. I think next time I'd suggest maybe using Tint Screen to convey night/day or reality/dreamworld instead of using different colored tiles? It may be quicker than resetting the tiles. As well, though I liked the bright look of the maps overall, I think the multiple saturated colors might have toned down the horror in the night and dream sections.

Horror:

I like some of the custom horror assets, particularly the bust sprites. Some moments were pretty good at capturing a more subtle, atmosphereic horror, particularly the dream sections. I think maybe tweaking the sound design would help increase the tension in general? Maybe something slow and atmospheric, or even a distorted version of an earlier more cheery theme could be a cool twist in a game like this.

Possible Bugs:

Small note, I think some of the transitions could be tweaked? I noticed when coming from the campsite to the cabins, it loads you in facing the left. If you're holding down the left key, it then usually switches you back to the campsite pretty quickly.

Overall:

A nice game. Honestly could be edgier? I noticed at one point you could choose to bring your friends together or to insult them and keep them separated, it would have been interesting if it affects what order they die in or if they die quicker or slower depending on what you do. But that's also not something you might notice unless you play through the game a few times, and even though I'm not sure it affected the ending I did like going through the dialogue trees and seeing how the characters react differently to things you say.

Though it's a smaller game, it did have a good amount of potential. If you decide to continue making RPGMaker games, whether you choose to go with more humorous projects or go deeper into the horror genre, it'll be interesting to see what you make next!