'I Will Haunt You' is a tragic novella about a ghost who haunts his boyfriend. It's quite a somber and sober look at not what it means to move on from something that is over. It's a simple story, but I think one that's distilled down to capturing just the essence of what the message of the story is trying to present.
The story centers around Beckett, a ghost, who was killed three years ago, and how he hasn't moved on from the mortal plane, instead staying and 'haunting' his boyfriend Rhett. Beckett tries to be a helpful ghost, moving things into useful places, and keeping watch over Rhett, but Rhett's still depressed. Then Beckett gets a new boyfriend and suddenly Rhett's starting to be happy again, but Beckett's jealous and distraught, still clinging to wanting to be with Rhett even through he's unable to actively be there physically for him. The reader then gets three options on how to respond to this revelation. One ending is one where he becomes vengeful and lashes out to scare away the new boyfriend, only to end up scaring away Rhett in the process. Another bad ending is where he also falls into despair, which ends up creating a space where Rhett pushes away his new boyfriend, thus leaving them together again, but alone and still miserable. The good ending is the one where Beckett accepts the finality of their situation and allows Rhett to continue to be happy without him, while he moves on as well, no matter how scary it may be. And like, that's all the surface level plot, but like a good fable it's got some fun interpretations or allusions that could be made. Replace the death of Beckett into any other situation in which this relationship could've ended and it gives a really compelling demonstration of the pitfalls of ruminating over a failing or ending relationship. The endings showing that how a person reacts to the situation matters, and can shape how that person experiences it.
The presentation is really good, the character sprites are expressive and simple, yet with bold but not gruesome details. Beckett's design of his bloodied shoulders from his neck is surprisingly tasteful. The art for the backgrounds and cgs are really good at conveying the moods of the scenes. The little animations that the sprite have add to the immersion. The music and sounds are adequate. The writing is simple, but effective. It's really good in how the three different endings all have their distinct voices, especially since it's such a singular character focused story. I appreciate the addition of letting the reader go back to the pivotal choice to pick a different path to experience it. The situation is non-descript as it needs to be in order to focus on the primary emotional conflict, Beckett wanting to be the only one who can help Rhett, when he himself is unable to be what Rhett needs.
As for the folklore element, I think this is a take on a classic ghost story/haunted house but from the view point of the ghost. I think I can think of a few haunted house stories that follow both the haunted and the haunters, so focusing solely on just the ghost makes it stand out a bit more. It makes me feel like it was a good starting point for the ghost-haunting-element, but it makes me wonder if you might've been able to find a ghost-story that you could connected it to better encapsulate the folk-lore element. I will offer that this is a solid entry for a game jam with a very manageable scope, and it checks all the boxes (bonus points for probably the best itch page design, it goes so hard), especially for a first time entry and what looks to be a first time solo project for you. Really nice showing. Looking forward to seeing what happens when you expand that scope a bit more, stuff like lengthening the plot and narrative, playing around with the structure of the story. This one works from the POV from the ghost, but it could also really work well from the POV of Rhett being haunted by his house and turning it into a mystery of why he's haunted. You've got a good foundation, so you can start experimenting.