Hey there, thanks for the response! Wanted to follow up on a few points:
You CAN use the gun, but that's for the end. I won't spoil it, but you'll know it if you reached the end
I definitely get this, but I think this feels inconsistent with the sprint functionality -- if you force us to not be allowed to sprint until the end of the game, wouldn't it similarly make sense to not allow us to shoot until the end of the game (or vice versa -- allow us to sprint at the beginning and then also shoot)?
EDIT: Saw in the latest build you can sprint from the start! Cheers on this -- I think this makes things much more consistent now.
The combination lock is fairly simple, but you REALLY need to pay attention to small details. Trust me, I have hidden all the 5 letters throughout the game. Some papers, some scrolling led lights, you name it..
Thinking back, I do indeed remember seeing letters on different clues here and there, but I think the issue was it wasn't clear to me that they were important at the time. When you get to the combination lock, you might realize that you missed some clues along the way, but now the only way to re-visit those clues would be to start the game from scratch -- you can only really "revisit" the last character for the lock as it's on the body once you're at the combination lock part.
I think if the letters had contained a bit more "this is important, mark this down perhaps for later" aspect to them, I would have noted them -- e.g. on the piece of paper if it had been written in blood and circled with a ring of blood (similar to the body later), I would have probably thought it was important, vs just written in black ink (I originally thought it was perhaps just the model artists "signature"). You can't obviously mark in blood things like the scrolling LED signs (I thought they were zeros actually), but I'm sure there could be some sort of way to highlight them to make it clear they are important.
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Just want to be clear here too as well that there is a ton to love in this game -- the graphics, the aesthetics, the atmosphere, the creepiness, I think you hit a lot of this stuff out of the park -- these are just some thoughts that took me personally out of the game, if you will.