One of the jam's most striking attempts at (mis)using Ren'py, and from the pixel art to the music to the battle scene to the aspect ratio, a success at pastiche. The presentation is only not perfect because some traces of the engine (like the sliders) remain in the menus, and it's arguably a little too faithful in some places – for instance, the font is not super comfortable to look at in the cramped text boxes that do not feel like they were designed for reading walls of text. Also, I do ultimately lean towards feeling like not doing something more creative with the VN sprite art represents a missed opportunity, since it does come off as out of place both with its antialiasing and its lack of shading.
I guess I'll also have to voice my hesitation about how the fight scene works out in practice. It definitely looks and feels right for what it's modeled after, but is it a productive way to present a battle mostly told in prose? The visuals and the writing are dissonant in a way I think it doesn't quite overcome; so much of what happens just isn't reflected on the screen in any way, making the flow of the scene a bit muddled. Maybe it'll feel more natural to read when there's more of this to play through.
Though the in media res opening feels a little jarring and it takes some time for the character dynamics to land, the writing has its charms and hits some successful emotional beats. If there's a weakness, it might be the pacing being very slow, with not a lot happening in the first 10k words and the plot never quite finding its footing in the sense of having clear forward momentum. I wouldn't necessarily call this a problem, but it does make loving the game as a jam entry difficult – especially since how the demo version ends is just an amusing gag, too. Sunrise Fang is a good time on the whole, but I don't really know if I can rate it favorably in contrast to submissions that tell complete and satisfying stories or at least get further on the road there, if that makes sense? I do want to stress that despite these criticisms, I overall enjoyed the VN a lot and am very excited to read the rest of it!