Thank you so much for trying out the game and taking the time to write to us!
Yeah we really overestimated how much we could get done from a visual story telling standpoint, even things like the on hover text on the objects were a late addition because playtesters couldn't tell what was going on. I think it's easy when building your first game for everything to make sense in your head, but hard to truly convey it with limited time/assets.
If I could start again we would have the characters actually talk, or add more interactions so you can really learn about the story without relying on visuals/scripting. We probably only got a chance to tell maybe 10% of the story we originally planned, and as you pointed out the objects were meant to be more complex and meaningful...but with the time crunch we had to work with a lot of pre-existing assets from other projects for the 3D.
We're really proud that we got something completed! This community has been overwhelmingly kind and helpful, thank you for the detailed reply :D.