Wow, this was really special. The sound design is impeccable, every track fit the mood so perfectly.
I really enjoyed the writing in this as well. I also wonder how the winning/losing of the minigames impacts the ending, but I really loved the story as well and how you elicit specific emotions from the player directly through gameplay fragments.
SPOILERS BELOW:
I don't always believe in authors giving away / spoiling their own intent with things, so feel free to leave this up to interpretation. I also love hearing how people experience/interpret my own games, so here's a few of my interpretations of this amazing game.
I interpreted the fishing minigame as representing being in and out of consciousness, blacking in and out drunk. That felt like a really cool realization, when the truck driver says "I thought I lost you there" after you catch a fish, it was like fishing around for your own head trying to wake up after blacking out.
The minigames felt kind of like stages of getting more and more drunk, though this might be a bit of a stretch. Perhaps it's more like the previous paragraph, where it's just me trying to fish around for my consciousness after having had too much to drink.
In between cutscenes, the winding and confusing paths with the awkward turns/movement and strange geometric imagery felt a lot like stumbling around drunk, being only *just barely* able to perceive boundaries well enough to not hurt myself, but not being lucid enough to really understand what's around me (hence the strange shapes everywhere). I thought that was really really cool. I feel like it pushes the boundaries of what games can elicit from a player; more than just goal-based progression, but a focus on bringing about an incredibly specific feeling.
I didn't fully understand the interaction with the semi driver, though my interpretation is: The fishing club clearly seems to be a metaphor for being an alcoholic. I'm not entirely sure what the scene with the grandfather means either, but the taste in the player's mouth in my mind perhaps is medicine that they were forced to take? Or maybe it's a metaphor for having something tough to swallow being said to you.
Your games always make me think about what games can do as a medium, thank you for making this. It's really lovely and evocative of different but cohesive feelings.