Hello! Tonic here. Thank you for sharing your game! Fantasy/Mystery with a focus on lore/story-richness is my absolute favorite, so I really enjoyed this! 🔮✨ The general vibe of magical mystery + arcane industry was a delight.
The overall narrative was very compelling, with the spirit world being so misunderstood and exploited by the descendants of Lor. It was really awesome how you sent the player over to the spirit world to see and hear how different it is in person. I also really liked being able to speak directly to the spiritual residents who are a collective of all those in the city who have come before, driven wild by the living's miscalibration of the crystals.
Lira being the "last hope" in a line of more empathetic folks (like her dad, and then Hiram) was a nice touch as well, very whole-world-against-me high stakes feeling, though I felt bad Lira lost both of her relatives in the unfortunate political/magical chaos. It was touching to see the moments when her loved ones protected her and shielded her from the other side.
The archbishop was a good expression of the sort of hyper-polite and charismatic personality that gains a foothold where they shouldn't, particularly in governing/religious associations, and causes so much damage in these sorts of closed-door power struggles. I was hoping the crystal would just zap him to cinders, ahaha;;
Also, the music was incredible!! I'm not sure if you all made it yourselves, but if not, the tracks you selected were absolutely perfect. I really loved that you changed it so often, for all of the different areas and moments. It makes a huge difference, and really elevates the air of the scenes.
The art and color schemes were also really pleasant, and at times, ethereal. Seeing Hiram's design, as well as the Lor tragedy statue with the crystal jutting out at the top + reaching hands from the earth, really made me want to investigate this game. I loved both of those designs and their colors.
A few feedback notes:
-There was a lack of music for the main menu, unless it just wasn't playing? I think adding an ambient track here as well would be great to establish the mood!
-The settings menu was very sleek and clear, but the style doesn't really match the rest of the game, I feel. If you could bring cohesion to the style, like making it match the gilded frame for the dialogue/prose, for example, I think that would make a good impression!
-The music doesn't properly fade out + into each track when the music changes. There are abrupt stops and starts that are somewhat distracting.
-The scene shift from the beginning, with Mother, to in your room alone, years later, was a bit unclear. I didn't know that it was supposed to be the same person/child at first.
-I figured it out by fiddling, but in the beginning, I was very unsure of what to do to solve the crystal alignment click-puzzles. But I really liked that you included those elements! I also liked the choose-your-own-details for Lira at the beginning. And the hover tooltips for glossary terms were great.
Overall, super nice job! Thanks again for sharing! 💖