Saw this on Manlybadasshero's channel, was gonna just leave a comment on his video but felt compelled to track you down to give some direct feedback.
This game was really cool and you have a ton of potential but I think you're in the wrong genre. More than anything, the direction was too stern and sold Embry's trauma too well to be anything other than tragic. Their totally blank face when Dr. D "slips," the first genuine show of emotion afterwards, the 'overworld' sprite of them covering their face and that really bitter crying expression afterwards along with the big pause followed by something as absolutely defeated and resigned as 'Look at that, it's time for bed already'? Honestly a really powerful sequence but it's not scary it's just... Heartbreaking. Incredibly good work to have it be as moving as it is for how short a game it is.
A lot of little touches add up to it. Dr. D's dialogue was really charmingly cute even though their role in the story was transparent from the first second. Showing all the dirt building up in the house and people commenting on Embry's failing hygiene added some really quick but powerful and pretty believable setup to sell Embry's emotional state better. It probably helps that a lot of it called back to the actual effects of kids who grow up in poverty or otherwise have to take over adult roles before they're ready. Embry just having no hobbies whatsoever and losing all semblance of whoever they were beforehand is definitely a familiar picture to me. Same with the daily scramble for food and to just... Get to the next day.
I genuinely recommend genre-switching. I think with the environmental storytelling, charming writing and character art skills demonstrated here you could probably make a really really good tragic, emotional story in the vein of Undertale or Nier or something (obvs not in terms of gameplay style or presentation but just the general mood and tone of it). If you do, just gotta remember that the core of tragedy isn't just sadness for sadness' sake, but to use the tragedy to highlight the beautiful and hopeful things in between. Though I'd guess you already get that given how it ended.
Either way I really enjoyed it and I think you've got a ton of talent. c: