So the game is playing well on the Kitty terminal on Linux Mint, and I did the brightness changes you suggested. I'm still doing the tutorial steps, and yeah some of the dialogue is nonsensical like the innkeeper that gave me the tutorial. That's fine though, I know things are in an early stage. The combat QTEs seem to not be working reliably. Sometimes they work, other times even though I KNOW I hit it at the right time, I take full damage... not sure what's going on there.
I'll make sure to write more as I play more, but I'm enjoying it so far!