Thank you for the detailed report! I can actually comment on a few of the things you brought up:
- The up and down directions being somewhat confusing has been my most common feedback by far. I have a number of plans on how to handle that, some of which are a little silly but should work. I'm also planning on looking into whether I can highlight certain words in the phone call text (i.e. "up" or "down" or "has to wait") to make them stand out.
- The candles actually ward off a different demon that doesn't spawn correctly, a shadow demon that appears under the table the candles are on. I'm working on getting that fixed and working. The demon that DOES appear can be warded off by clicking on it with the book (I was hoping the chevrons on both the book and the demon may point that out).
- So far I've mostly viewed the first playable day as more of a "day 2" kind of thing, so hopefully in the final build (when I have day progression working correctly) I'll have an actual day 1 that isn't as breakneck. Also hopefully having a day to ease the player into the swing of things allows them to examine the stuff in the room more closely.