I wanna start off by saying that I am more than excited for an eventual continuation of this story. I think both Ren and Lucan are extremely interesting characters, because they're so diametrically opposed. Lucan feels like a much more down-to-Earth type character. He lives a boring life; he goes to work and comes back to an empty home with nothing to do. He's under constant pressure from his mother to continue his business name, and she's singularly focused on that sole objective, while his wife is likely running around and cheating behind his back. Ren is, instead, a much more enigmatic force-of-nature type character. Everything they do is painted with a veneer of feeling all too friendly, like they're looking for something to poke and prod at in every conversation. What they say, what they do- it's nearly impossible to tell where the thin line of truth begins and ends with Ren, and I felt like, at some point in the stories' future, we're going to be goaded into believing the truth is just another lie.
I'm interested to see the folklore theme of The Boy Who Cried Wolf be explored more in the future, but as it stands right now, it feels more like an addendum attached to the end of the story to qualify for the Jam Theme. To be fair, though, I don't really think 'matching the theme' matters, as long as the story is good, and what's here is definitely intriguing. I especially loved that, because Lucan sees absolutely zero affection in his daily life, he becomes the perfect target for someone like Ren- who, otherwise, I felt like had their red-flags extremely well telegraphed before the reveal in the bathroom. Lucan is so desperate for affection, he ignores those red-flags and jumps straight into the beast's paws (HE'S JUST LIKE ME FR). Regardless, I also liked that I wasn't really able to keep up with Ren, even knowing that there was probably something deeper beneath the surface. It kept them more than interesting, and I'm excited to see where their plan goes next.
Presentation is definitely the game's strongest suit. The art is extremely vibrant and expressive, and the bathroom scene was a major highlight, both in writing and visuals. I'm not a big fan of the text being so slow, which seemed like a symptom of having so many lines just skip straight on by, which seems to be a common complaint. I think it should be used a bit more sparingly, because otherwise players have to either scroll back a line or two, or have to open the history menu, which does your excellent writing a disservice imo.
I'm very excited to see how Jane Doe ends, because this is a very strong start.