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I finished playing and here's my honest thoughts ~

Definitely an interesting concept! But it certainly could use some polish.

While I know the second half is probably considered "more important" than the first half, I honestly enjoyed the slice of life aspects more than the second. I enjoyed the relatability of friends going to school, just hanging out, and being kids. It has a very nostalgic appeal. Even if the children did sound older than first graders (I imagined them more as preteens honestly), I still was able to get a good sense of their personalities and I found their relationships to be entertaining. It was a pleasure getting to know them.

However the second half ... It was definitely more "tell" than "show". I found it odd that Misha was just talking to himself the entire time. I might have enjoyed it more had Petya and Kesha been there with him, so he'd have someone to talk to. We'd get more of the character interaction as opposed to just Misha narrating his thoughts/feelings. And then it also started to break the fourth wall and was literally "talking at the player" in the form of lectures and trolling ... which I get what it's trying to do, but I just didn't find it all that interesting and entertaining honestly.

That's more just my personal preference though. Now in regards to my overall thoughts ...

In terms of the positive, I like the unique art style. And especially the composition of the scenery. Like I said I enjoyed the characters, I felt like we got a good grasp of their individual personalities. I enjoyed some of the point and click aspects, I honestly wish there was more of that.

My biggest constructive criticism is that the writing definitely needs more polish. Even ignoring the obvious issue of things getting lost in translation ... The pacing was a little slow even for a slice of life, because there was a lot of "Hmm ..." "Umm ..."s accompanied with short choppy sentences that felt like they were only there to take up space. As a result it became really repetitive and tedious to read. Remember when you're writing that every sentence needs to be done with purpose. Whether it's to present the reader with new information, create a sense of personality and character depth, or move the story forward. I feel all of this was present, but the reader has to manually sift through the useful bits of dialogue/narration from the lines that are just there to fill space and aren't really doing anything on their own.

If you don't polish it, readers (aside from those you ask to play/for their opinions such as myself) may not be immersed and invested enough in the story to get to that surprise twist ending. Which is, I assume, the main goal.

So my advice would be, if you're looking to improve, definitely go over the lines of narration/dialogue and sort out what moves the story forward and what is there to just to fill space: repeating information the reader is already aware of or doesn't really need to know in order to get a grasp of the bigger picture. As one will hook your readers, the others may cause them to lose interest before they can get to the punchline. I don't think think this story needs to be as long and lecture-heavy as it was to get the point across. Had the treasures been sifted out of the clutter, this story could have easily been cut in half without losing any essential storytelling aspects.

Though like I said, from a personal perspective, I would've liked the story more without with the twist ending. I think the slice of life elements were better executed as they were shown to us, not just told in the form of long-winded monologues and lectures.