thanks so much I appreciate the feedback!
i'll definitely work on making the instructions clear in future versions
to solve the puzzles you have to talk to the characters (by pressing the interact button around them)..
like for the candle puzzle, talking to the "???" character will give you hints and eventually just give you the answer, without talking to him there's no way of knowing what to do!
and you actually summed it up perfectly, it's both! The story will take a darker turn but it's always going to have that comedic element about it..