(Note: I've only played the 1.0 version, where bugs weren't fixed yet. I will not be talking about: collision issues, game breaking bugs, or other unintended content from the author I encountered that presumably has been fixed in patch 1.01.
I've know the dev for years, as a friend. I've also followed his game development career for as much time, so I have a very solid knowledge of how much of a step up this game is, compared to older projects.
Story-wise, what I'm most proud of and most interested by is the narrative style of the game. Foregoing the usual dialogue system and using this type of narrator (even though it has a story payoff later on) is a very good choice. Where graphically and sound-wise it doesn't have a strong identity, the narrative style of the first third of the game helps immensely to give it a unique style and flavour. While it makes you reminisce of other indie RPGs like Mortis Ghost's OFF or Toby Fox's Undertale, it takes what in those games was a much more vague and secondary concept and plays around with it until it's the main point of the game, narratively and metanarratively.
However, while I praise the bold choice of stylistic narration, I have to say that the story and lore is not as strong. The game starts pretty incredibly, putting on a strong premise and for the first third of the game, the mystery is enough to push forward with strong momentum. While I think the first boss is, at that point, the narratively weakest one, I think it fulfills it's purpose of being an entry point for players to get accostumed to what kind of game this is.
The second third is, in my opinion, the strongest. I find Valerie to be the most impactful of the bosses, even more than the visually and mechanically spectacular final boss. Valerie is, in my opinion, the climax where you wonder 'what has my character done' to cause such a visceral reaction on even his sister. However, as I said, I think Valerie is the highest point and sadly I think the final third is the weakest.
With such a strong premise, there's no wonder the player would want a strong payoff. I think the game gives a strong payoff, but some details and execution makes it less than great. For starters, I love the concept that what Rose did was basically start a World War. I think that's a terrific way of conveying the "sins" the narrator pushes towards the player (even if the narrator is far from objective), and I think it fits the overall themes of the game.
However, I think the last third of the game is also bloated with exposition, backstory, random historical facts that don't really impact the rest of the game directly, and feels more like The Silmarillion than The Lord of the Rings. The Chapter, the Helenites, all of that feels like a tacked on worldbuilding that the author had in mind and wanted everyone to know, but doesn't actually enhance the game in any way. A much more simplistic backstory, with a stronger focus and less worldbuilding (of a world the player doesn't even interact with nor see aside from a postgame screen) would have made the game be focused much more in character interaction, where it truly shines.
Also, I disliked some choices that the author made with the story. I think the assassination of Whershaff is undermined by the concept of Rose being enchanted. If the mistake was truly on Rose's part, either because this particular job was viscerally emotional for her or something along those lines, it would have made the story feel more coherent and mature. Instead, we have really a Rose that's not bad in anyway, and whose only fault in everything is the equivalent of being drugged by a third party, who should really be in this purgatory. It's barely acknowledged by the game that the real culprit of the world going to shit is someone who actually orchestrated it. There's no justice or closure on that. Instead, we have a story that tortures the main character without any reason, and there's no moral dilemma or strong decision by Rose to have done what she did.
Also I feel that Luhm's Heart undermines what could have been a strong message of "moving pass your mistakes and starting anew" in order to give Rose a superpower to "fix the mistakes that weren't really your fault, but hey, you're like super op now". I think the story got extremely close to being excellent, but these few choices for the end really felt like a let down.
In another point, I agree with @Ciclope's assessment. The movement in this game doesn't feel that great. Apart from the 8-way movement being slippery, I feel like the maps of the game were designed entirelly aesthetically, and not at all mechanically. More than once I got lost in a forest, to immediately find myself in a dead end and had to backtrack. Other times, there was a collision with a branch or bush in the middle of a path that did nothing other than obstructing the actual way the player needs to go, with no gameplay reward. 2D JRPGs, unlike more modern open world games, historically tend to need a much more tight-knit level design in order to feel good to navigate. There's no reason for the player to feel like they are navigating a labyrinth of small collisions, when they're actually in the middle of the road.
All in all, I really enjoyed the game. I feel like it's an excellent step in the right direction in so many ways, and if the author would polish it up or take some concepts from this game to his next one he could make something that actually felt great. This, however, is a nice first attempt with excellent ideas.
Keep it up!
PD: Sorry for the long review. I hope you appreciate the insight though.