Absolutely next level programming and presentation on this. Just a tour de force on how to bend Renpy over a barrel and make it your bitch. Uuuuuunfortunately I think the emphasis on technical brilliance left things a bit lacking in the narrative department.
Breaking things down by criterion, spoilers from this point forward.
Implementation of Theme:
If it's there, I'm having a little trouble finding it. There are some struggles there that could constitute "darkness" - divorced, or at least estranged, parents, friends moving away, etc. And I could maybe see the "light" as having a support system through it all - the kid's mom is present and supportive the whole time, and she's the one who's there in the literal light in the dark (fireflies) scene. I just don't think it necessarily comes through consistently in the whole narrative.
Story:
Of course, that being said, "narrative" is used pretty loosely in this project. That's not a knock in and of itself - you can have a work that's all about the experience rather than a cohesive "plot". It's just a tough situation for rating the entry since there's this whole category for "story" and try as I may I'm struggling to put the pieces together in anyway that gives a discrete throughline.
Each individual story provides a lot of good character work, especially from primarily a child's perspective, and a lot of the dialogue feels very believable. That feels like an actual, good mom talking to her son, and like an actual dad that does not know how to be a good dad talking to his son. I know some people have criticized the wedding scene, but I can kind of get the inclusion as something the kid would keep around just as a reminder of when things were happy for his parents, something he'd clearly like to see again since he's writing to his dad and agrees to go hunting even though that's something he doesn't want to do.
One side note here - I'm referring to the kid as "the kid", but I'm not sure on the name situation? He's referred to as "Cole" in the happy birthday song, but "Milton" or "Mill" everywhere else, both by his mom and his friend. Is Cole supposed to be a middle name that he used for a while because he didn't want to go by his dad's name? I notice that the log-in screen says Milton too, so maybe he grew more comfortable with using his given name?
Otherwise, a little more context could go a long way. Maybe some more insight into the parents' relationship, why the dad left, etc. Understood that not everything needs to be here, but it feels like there are some opportunities being missed.
Presentation:
I mean, fuck, what else needs to be said here? I'd give it six stars if I could. Probably one of the, if not the coolest, interactive elements I have ever seen in a Renpy project. Just unbelievable. Could have used some more sound in places (the awkward sound effect at the end of the hunting scene was actually a little creepy) but just an incredible job.
Creativity:
Closely related to presentation on this one, obviously the creativity here was off the charts, and this required commensurate effort to actually bring this vision to life. Even the narrative elements, while they could have been more effective, displayed a lot of originality in going for selected pieces of childhood rather than some degree of romance or bonding like a lot of the other entries. Interpreting "my wolf" as "mom" was a really interesting choice and that's the kind of unique idea I love to see.