Gosh, I'm so sorry for how long it took us to reply to this, but this is such a wonderful, in-depth and kind review, and we're both so grateful and flattered by your kind thoughts! Thank you so much for taking the time to talk about the things that worked for you, especially because these are the sorts of details that really help us both as we proceed into new projects!
It's really wonderful to hear that the writing for the world and characters worked for you and was easy to relate to. Although they live in a society with very different rules, to a certain extent we hoped the monsters would also be living quite quiet, everyday lives with fairly everyday and understandable worries.
We're really glad to hear that the writing for Vil worked, too! You're probably right that that has to do with the characters already knowing them. Since the game is also written entirely in first person and all the characters address Vil on a one-on-one basis, it was possible to avoid third person pronouns entirely without making it stick out too much. In some ways the decision was easier than trying to assign a gender to Vil, since it wouldn't have had too much bearing on any of the writing in the end. Given the sort of game we wanted to make, we're really glad if it makes the story feel inviting to any reader and their own approach to who Vil is.
Thank you so much for taking the time and giving our game a go, we're really thankful for your comments and your time!