This has some interesting ideas, though I do admittedly have a few qualms with it.
(Some spoilers ahead)
I'll start off by saying that I'm an absolute sucker for urban legends, so I'm glad that at least one VN in this jam used that as the implementation of the jam theme. Urban legends are folklore! The fact that this is based on an actual American myth also gives this a real sense of time and place, further grounded by the background photos of what I'm assuming is the real New Jersey Pine Barrens. I always love it when stories are set in a specific place and capture the essence of that area. This was no exception.
My main gripes come in with the story. This tries to balance slice-of-life romance and mystery horror, though it kind of loses the latter as it goes on. I'd say the inciting incident of the boyfriends seeing the Jersey Devil and capturing it on video has the strongest horror elements. After that, the tension for the Devil storyline just kind of fizzles out. The plot then pivots its focus to the relationship between Terry and Shane.
I was the most satisfied with Shane's storyline. Between him hiding his disbelief from Terry and his mysterious past, Shane felt like the most fleshed out character. I will admit, I didn't see the reveal of him encountering the Jersey Devil as a child or the reveal of him being the only known survivor coming, though I probably should have. Shane's arc even has a Chekhov's switchblade that I couldn't help but smile at when I noticed. Although I do question the potential logic hole of Shane having a close encounter with the Devil as a child (even attacking it), only to not believe in the supernatural as an adult.
The other characters, however, didn't really work for me. I feel like Terry didn't really evolve at all. Sure, his whole purpose for being a ghost hunter is because he wants to validate Shane's past encounter. That's all well and good, and there's a real love in their dynamic. But, that's just kind of...it for Terry. Even when Shane's story is validated by the end, it doesn't really feel like Terry learns anything from this.
Finally, the supporting cast of characters. They're basically just setup with no payoff. We have like one or two scenes with the side characters before they're basically forgotten. What happened to Maria? What's Abigail's deal? What about the abandoned village? They're only used as plot devices to help us learn more about the Devil, and even Shane and Terry before being dropped completely.
All of this builds up to a conclusion that I found underwhelming. The final encounter with the Jersey Devil just kind of...happens. There's some buildup as Terry finds the abandoned house (which I assume is separate from the abandoned village), then the tension is broken when Shane finds him and tries to get him back to the cabin, and then the Devil is just behind them. Sure, the encounter technically closes out Shane's character arc, but he's not the only person in this story.
I've ranted a lot about the story, so I'll move on to technical aspects now. I enjoyed the investigation segments, though they did feel a little barebones. I know the author said they were new to coding, so I won't lambast this too much. The pacing felt a little uneven; we'll have long scenes of conversations between characters, but then the finale just kind of happens. The writing is good enough, though I did notice a few typos and missing punctuation. There's also a few parts throughout where the narration randomly switches from its usual past tense to present tense. I don't know how much experience the creator has with writing, though I will give a tip: keep the tense consistent throughout; only change it if there's a reason to, such as flashbacks. There's also not really much in the way of horror; it's kind of weird to have a tense moment with jolly romantic music playing. I will say, though, Terry is hot, and BIG BOTTOM REPRESENTATION.
I know I said a lot here, but it's not all bad! Everything I've said could be fixed by writing additional scenes to flesh out the characters more and have them more involved in the plot. I did enjoy Terry and Shane's dynamic, and I felt like they were the best part about this.
Overall, I'd say that Crimson Creek is a collection of interesting ideas only held together by weak connective tissue.