Yeah man I'm not really sure what to do with this one. It's certainly creative and it stands out from the other jam entries, especially in terms of presentation, but I feel like this didn't quite stick the landing for me.
So let's talk about presentation first - certainly very creative in using the NVL format to split the screen down the middle, and the encroaching dark space at the edges of the screen while the narrator is under stress (if I understood that right, I'm not sure actually) work well with that. As several others have said, this did have the unintended effect of making the text quite small, but it didn't really inhibit my ability to read the VN and I think this is probably something that could've been flagged and fixed if this wasn't a jam entry where you were working on a strict deadline.
Sprites are all decent and the music choices were serviceable. Primarily using grayscale is certainly a distinctive aesthetic, though I couldn't really discern the purposes of the bits of color we get during the VN. Gabriel has vibrant blue throughout his cables, so I thought maybe it had something to do with the characters' magical properties (and their respective sacrifices) but there's also color in Daniel's and Sascha's eyes, as well as the latter's clothes, which wouldn't make sense. Maybe it's something about being closer to "enlightenment"? Like, Daniel is as far as you can get, Gabriel is partly there, and the last CG that shows Sascha in full color is meant to depict that full realization? Idk, feels a bit Pleasantville-y but maybe that's something.
Writing felt a bit hit or miss too, and while I felt like some of it was supposed to be esoteric to fit the aesthetic you were presenting, some also felt unintentionally difficult to parse. For example, "Armor might make an empowered person, but it’s only armor. A thing to hide behind." I feel like instead of "armor might make an empowered person" you might have been going for something more like "armor might give you confidence", which would make more sense. Also, there was some, uh, creative imagery at times ("My digested dinner has a happy grin. It blinks flirtatiously at me." Dude, why).
General spoiler warning as I move into plot, theme, and character.
Okay first here I want to try to nail down what exactly this VN is trying to say. I see a couple other comments here and on the store page alleging the theme is essentially about "blocking out the haters" and to be honest I don't see that at all? In fact, I thought it was kinda the opposite, with Sascha's closing monologue rejecting that idea in favor of being more in tune with the community. This view is held in opposition to Daniel's complicated schemes to get rid of her to be the only witch in town and Gabriel's stated desire to live in isolation in the mountains, as well as Sascha's own prior views where she failed to appreciate that the villagers don't really see her as anything to be feared or excluded (e.g., the candy bowl on her doorstep). Sascha even hypothesizes that Gabriel doesn't really want true isolation so much as he wants to be admired, like the mountains themselves.
So, problems with the theme here:
1) I actually thought the closing monologue was a bit heavy-handed with how the theme was presented, and I typically don't like "this is what it was all about" endings - feels too much like a morality play to me. That said, it apparently wasn't since either other people are missing the point or I am, and maybe working on ensuring the language was clear when it really needs to be could help convey the message better.
2) The theme, whatever it is, seems to fail to take into account the varying impacts of the witch curse. We understand that in exchange for their abilities, Daniel lost (at least) an arm and that Gabriel lost his ability to communicate without Avatar Na'vi cables, but we don't see anything about what Sascha lost, other than it not being as bad as the others. Without this insight, Sascha lecturing Gabriel on community, appreciation, and recognition feels a bit hollow since for all we know she's coming at this from a completely different place - she's not subject to the same kind of obstacles to appreciation by others. I suppose that could be intentional to give Sascha a sense of faux-enlightenment, but if that's the case then I'm really not sure what the point of any of this was.
I feel like I've already been rambling long enough, so I'll leave it here. I think this had some really creative ideas - witches living in a modern world having to grapple with mundane problems like having to take jobs to avoid some kind of government unemployment penalty is a fun concept. I think this one just needed a bit more time focusing on the execution. Still had a good time with this one though!