Spoiler-stuff and said before reading what the others have written, so please pardon repetitions.
So, Gabby and Adam are very probably siblings then...
I liked the Bible, by the way, especially with the whole "why hast thou forsaken me" in Latin.
Mostly minor stuff and suggestions. The alpha works fine, so none of these are of a particularly high priority, just things I noticed.
Level 1
I see there are new portraits (presumably of backers?) which are cool, although they seem too "clean", if you know what I mean. The other (fictional) people and images (like the animals) seem more realistic in how they are drawn, more "wrinkly" and stuff. Although I guess that gets less and less noticeable with the increasing number of cobwebs, shadows and so on.
I like the doors opening and closing, but I wonder if it's possible to add artwork on the floor instead of the black abyss there. Maybe like a "gradient" of floorboards turning into absolute blackness?
The shadow-man is awesome, but the sound effect too loud, I think. It should be less "woosh, he's gone". And maybe make the man even slightly less visible by having him be a little less dark/less solid? Make it a bit harder to see him so that him vanishing is even more weird to the eyes.
I wonder if it would be better to have the pedestal with the Latin Bible be black-and-white and only the Bible itself coloured. It's a HUGE coloured object there like this.
Make the blood spatter of the bird who flew against the window something to interact with? It is coloured, after all.
Something to look at more closely? Maybe even have the spatter upon close/magnified inspection vaguely resemble something weird or threatening, like a mini-Rohrschach?
Level 2
The room transitions with the new layout feel good!
Oooh, I like the new cellar with the holes in the ground and all that. Way worse. Any plans to add stuff like old wine barrels or other random crap or is the barren feeling intentional? It would make sense: Empty, deserted. With only the axe there.
When picking up the axe, the candle Adam put down "phases through" the axe. Is it possible to have the candle be placed in front of the animation? Or have the candle be behind the axe always?
I would probably add a "death" (waking up in bed) to the hallway "chase scene" with the darkness, because as it is you can walk all the way back into it in darkness and there's nothing to stop you.
Carrying the axe, I can be incredibly immature by having Adam walk and sprint in quick succession, resulting in him rubbing the axe shaft suggestively. Add the groaning that he makes while sprinting and, well. It would probably be better to change that, because you know how the average internet user and gamer will react to that.
In the attic, running to the left "above" the stairs causes Adam to "slide along the wall" and fall down the stairs. Is it possible to put a barrier there?
Level 3
God, that... music. Awful. Like a music box through a broken telephone. Perfect!
Is it intentional that Adam's room is the same layout as in level 1 (with the open closet), but in level 2 the layout is different? I first thought (seeing level 1 and level 2) that it was simply different each time, but seeing that level 1 and level 3 are the same, that doesn't seem to be the case. Only level 2 is the odd man out there.
The rotting decor is great.
The door handles on doors on side walls are way smaller than door handles on doors on the back wall.
Closets for hiding are also very huge coloured objects. Is that in your intent or would it be better to have parts of them coloured (like their handles ir maybe that "star" at the top) instead?
Sumo baby.
When I died, I respawned in another bedroom. Is this going to happen with every bedroom or will this only be a few? And if the latter, will they be marked in some fashion? With coloured bits, for instance? Or is it the Gabby dolls that mark respawning rooms?
The hiding worked well. Running past never seemed to work. Is it supposed to be impossible to run past or did I just get unlucky?
Later on: Two closets in a hallway with no monster? I get the first one without a monster (so the player can try it out), but that latter occasion seemed weird to me.
Agh! That chase scene! And you said you didn't like hard games, Matt!
I died three times to that monster breaking through the wall because "activating" the door is not that easy with that little time to get there
and walk "upwards" to it.
A praying nun doll?! Doll in a cage? A doll stuck to the corner with cobwebs? So many dolls everywhere? That's messed up.
What does the shaking of the hiding closets do? I didn't see any negative effect. Is it just for atmosphere?
The scene with the baby crashing through the wall, I expected to have to reach a closet, hide, and then go
through the newly made breach in the wall rather than continue on in the level. Maybe that can happen in another level, I suppose?
Alright, these are my thoughts pretty much as I played through the game. This version is great and - from what I can tell - already perfectly functional, so take these comments above for what they're worth: Nitpicks and personal observations.
EDIT:
Responding to Matt's question:
The chase sequence is a wee bit too hard for so early in the game, I'd say. What might help is to place random garbage below the door in a triangle shape, so that Adam is automatically "shoved" towards the door (so getting him to open it happens more easily) or by increasing the "activation radius" of that particular door perhaps? A big problem for me was the random garbage on the "upper" wall because that kept me from getting close enough to activate the door mid-run.
The "normal" monster sections aren't hard. Very doable with a bit of patience. Certainly easy enough for an early level.
