took me embarassingly long to play this. just fantastic.
something i've noticed with your games is that you REALLY nail the "feel" of everything. the dinginess, the creepiness, the darkness... it's all so deliberate and well executed. the flashes of black, the pauses in the text, or simply the writing feel carefully considered and make for a piece of art with a very clear vibe and an even clearer voice.
the art? freaking great. the sprites are both impressively detailed and very simple and readable, from the muddy waters and dangerous-looking gas (great use of yellow there!), to the minecarts and crystals, to the beautiful character portraits... your art style is great and it honestly feels like it got even better with this game (also the sound effects, goddamn they were phenomenal).
the themes were extremely compelling. it's rare to find games that tackle these things, or to be as relatable as this. because i related so, so much with a lot of the feelings the protagonist has, or even word choices the game took. it makes you feel like you're not alone. and it's not only the themes; the way it's presented is also great with the intermitent narration and visual storytelling (btw, since i have no idea who hawkzombie is, i'm guessing a lot of the story is references that i'm not getting lol. but in a weird way that kind of enhanced the experience? like it forced me to pay attention to the subtleties and small character moments to understand what was going on).
i guess the cart-pushing mechanic is a little tedious, and the music gets repetitive after a while. and maybe it's a reference or just cause of lack of time but the villain triplets was such a silly concept it kinda took me out of it? idk, that's really all i can think for stuff i didn't like. it's just nitpicks lol.
this was quality stuff. between it and your other games i've tried, you've really solidified yourself as an amazing artist and developer :>
beautiful game.