I was really so immersed with the story and just HAD to learn more about Jody and the town because oh my gosh it's so well-written. There will be spoilers down below as I theorize what the ever loving heck happened to Jody and Dixie, especially with how decript the entire looks.
But I also encountered what I think is a bug, it's in the route where Jody's wearing his white sleeveless shirt at Day 6 (when he's about to go confront Doris about some business thing), the asset of the alcohol bottles scattered around appears in the scene in front of his house and in MC's bungalow. But aside from that it's not all that bad.
Anyway, I have to say that I really enjoy the visuals and art of the game! Especially the music, it works so well here and I absolutely adore it! Not just that but the story is executed quite well, leaving behind enough clues and mysteries that make us question what sort of plot we've stumbled in. I think the lack of sprite for other characters also works since it emphasizes Joseph more and gives more mystery about the other cast of characters.
Also, I find myself adoring pathetic old men. Like, I liked Joseph's look when he had his hair down and looked like a pathetic wet puppy instead of when he had his hair up and slicked back. I just cannot, I adore whenever Joseph cries (I have to say I love how you illustrate it, ugly crying all the way!).
Now, times for a lil theory~!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I'm calling it, Doris is the demon that for some reason terrorized or struck a deal with Joseph or someone else and Dixie was either used as a sort of collatoral or had been unfortunately caught up in the mix. It's evident in one of the endings where you get killed that Joseph/Jody says that everything will be alright, that he saw someone bring back the dead and that he just has to talk to someone named Do-, we already know Doris can be considered that because in the ending where we killed Joseph, she's the one who gets called by the main character and subtly pushes for MC to take Joseph's place since it's the least they can do.
So, Doris is either protecting the town (alongside her brother who might act like some sort of sentinel protecting the town but I'm not sure) or she's doing something to trap the residents. She may have also killed the majority of the townsfolk? Not too much to say to that but the best we can assume is that Doris may have been directly involved with Dixie's death and is holding Joseph here with some sort of reasoning (I'm unsure how committed he is to his family's farm since he makes it clear that he doesn't really share the same passion but something IS making him stay).
I'm also unsure if Doris may have been getting people to come to the farm hoping one of them would trick Jospeh into thinking they're Dixie. I say this because Doris is the one who seems to have posted that job ad and there's also Finn's presence. I'm unsure what Lucy's presence here means aside from her being a hunter and involving her with bad endings.
Now, for Dixie and Joseph's relationship. From what we can see from the ending where Joseph turns us into "Dixie" --
(but from what I can tell, he isn't calling us Dixie and from what we know about the woman she doesn't seem to be the type to be turned into a housewife as what Joseph mentions how it's the least "Dixie" could do for him. In that vein, the MC might just be what Joseph wanted, an idealized housewife for him to love and be cared for so woohoo for us for breaking out of Dixie's shadow I guess??)
--Dixie has parents that argue a lot, and that Joseph wants to help her out of it. And we also know from other dialogue that Dixie has been by Joseph's side after his parents passed away. So from that, we should think that Dixie is a sweet gal who loves Jospeh so much that when he lost her cause he couldn't protect, he was gutted.
But that doesn't seem to be the case. In the endings where we either abuse or comfort Joseph, he says that we aren't Dixie purely because we don't mistreat him. It's very evident in the abuse ending where Joseph derives a lot of pleasure from MC abusing Joseph and "punishing" him. He doesn't even hide the bruises MC made. And in the comfort ending, Joseph says (while under the delusion that MC is Dixie) is that they won't give him what he always wanted. Was that real love and that Joseph was so abused that he didn't understand it?? That Dixie messed him up so much that to him, love is abuse??
That would be real messed up, if that were true then Joseph is beating himself up cause he lost his toxic lover and was so deep for 30-40 years of denial, and I don't think he has any support system because Dixie is gone. So when Joseph tells us in the comfort ending that we're a monster like him, I wonder if he thinks it's a sin that we didn't punish a monster like him and that we failed. Probably so deep in denial and self-hatred to think that he deserves any kind of salvation.
But who knows?? Personally I'm looking forward to whatever will come next~! Amazing job on this!