[After a brisk nap]

Originally Posted by Kurufinwe

I've just finished Day 2. I can't say I'm very much into the game, but it's not bad. Once again, there are some severe story-telling flaws: the story 'naturally' draws the player to the question of the hidden staircase (and I thought I'd find AJ('s body?) there), but... no, that's not it at all, you're actually supposed to think of having a look at the pool. That's a design flaw for a game, but, more importantly, it's a story-telling problem.

I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to tell you that the hidden staircase will feature later in the game, so consider this mention foreshadowing. As for why you drain the pool, if you look at it, Trilby will notice something at the bottom, won't be able to make it out, and suggest "maybe if it was drained".

I agree that it's a problem that the game lets you go ahead and drain the pool even if you don't know the reason to do it, but this is a tricky problem which even professional games often get wrong.

I wouldn't call it a major storytelling problem.

And the game is going too fast; the story has no time to breathe: you don't even have time to reflect on the fact that AJ's body should be all bluish and swollen (instead of what it looks like in the game)

That depends on how long he has been under water, surely?

that, blam, another dream sequence (this is getting tired by the way). The game being too short really shows in that sequence too:

I disagree that the game is rushed or too short. In fact, I think it's exactly the right length. Short and sweet, tightly constructed without any unnecessary fat.

I will agree that it's a pretty simple ghost story, although you shouldn't assume that everything is as it seems...

the only bit of backstory is the mysterious story of the son and the father

That's simply not true. You have the recent history of the house, with the mysterious murder/suicide. You have the history of the place over the decades as somewhere people have disappeared. You have the backstories of the other people in the house (or at least who they claim to be), and whatever took place between them before you arrived. You have the TV news letting you know what's going on in the world outside. Some of these things may become relevant later in the game.

and, guess what, you have a dream about a son and his father! I understand that this is an amateur game, but, well, I've already argued several times that it's extremely important to fit the story and the medium used to tell it, and this game shows the problem perfectly: if you want to build a ghost mystery, you need a lot of subtlety, something this game greatly lacks, in part because of its extremely short nature.

I don't think subtlety is essential in ghost stories. Many of them are pretty on-the-nose.

2) What are these people eating?

Yahtzee explains in the designer's commentary that the others ate all the food just before Trilby arrived, so much that they didn't need to eat for the next five days. And Trilby is too polite to complain. In other words, he didn't think about it.