Hoo boy. This just happened to be the first one in my queue and this set the bar awfully high.
I'm a bit new to reviewing in the game jam format so I'm just gonna throw out some quick (good lord, I have a problem) feedback and then move onto some other general comments. Some spoilers ahead for those that have not finished the build.
Implementation of Theme:
Well, I think this is pretty open/shut. The lighthouse synecdoche is a clever way of handling the "light in the dark" theme and I like the little lighthouse and anchor symbols on the flashback UI to reinforce this point. It's cute. Also, I'm not sure this was intended or not, but besides the figurative light in the dark with Luc there's also a literal light in the dark once Darius starts navigating through Karsk. If intended, great. If not, I'm giving you full credit anyway.
Story:
Right, so, overall I think there's a good setup here. While I have some gripes here and there with the narrative, I'm legitimately interested in seeing where this story is going and it did pull a couple maneuvers that left me pleasantly surprised, which is not always easy to do.
Biggest issue for me here, and this really flows to most of my other issues with the story, is that the "My Wolf" component (i.e., Luc) seems like more of a garnish to the story you actually want to tell, which is the sci-fi/horror/black ops tale. For the purposes of the jam itself, I think this is fine. It seems to me like there's a lot of leeway for where you can go with the "My Wolf" premise so I don't think that's a big deal.
However, it felt to me like there was a marked difference in flow between the action and romance scenes. Like, even just from the typos I found - it seemed like you were much more excited to write the action plot and were kind of struggling to find the words for the romance. There were definitely a few points where Darius' and Luc's chemistry didn't feel quite there and more like they were together because the script said so. I think you still conveyed what you needed to, and I was absolutely bummed when Luc's reveal was revealed, but there are points when that connection could feel stronger, especially in the first date and bedroom scenes. Bus stop was better though.
I absolutely commend you for taking on serious themes like PTSD and transitioning from military to civilian life - those are hard to do well and I can tell you really put in the effort to make them work. As a suggestion for the intro though, focus a little more on "show don't tell". It's basic and probably obnoxious to hear, but especially in the very first scene, it feels like we're kind of going around in circles saying the same thing without really getting anywhere. Instead of having Darius talk about how much his scar sucks, just show an interaction with him on the bus or something. Someone looks at him, grimaces, looks away, and he hides his face. Something like that. We get all the info on Darius' military history during the first date anyway so you can keep it simple.
I'd try to keep this principle in mind in the dialogue as well - especially during the first date scene the dialogue slipped into cliches a few times ("lots of guys never came back... and those that did didn't come back whole"; "he spent so long saving other people, he never thought about saving himself"). Something like "My dad served in X" -> "Oh... oh, shit... is... I mean, is he, y'know, alright?" conveys "X was a bad place where bad things happened" while feeling a bit more like a natural conversation and less like a war movie.
Otherwise, my other comment on the story would be that there's still a bit of a missing piece for me on how and why Darius' little war crime was made public when it was? Hopefully that's something that gets revealed later. Kinda wonder if Dustborne had anything to do with that...?
Presentation:
Outstanding. The multiple different UIs, the letters and newspaper articles, the different art styles between the flashbacks and current sprites like Volkov, sound effects... Really, really impressive that you managed to put this together for a game jam.
Creativity:
I mean, look, you took a prompt for a furry romance story and turned it into a survival horror shooter. I'm not going to sit here and pretend I don't love it.
An additional gripe that I could have put in "Story" but I guess can go here is that I was a little disappointed when "Totally Not America sabotaged a nuclear reactor and blew up a town in Totally Not Russia" was immediately revealed to be "Totally Not Russia false flag operation" since the former sounds more interesting and the latter sounds a bit more... COD MW2? Kinda hoping there are more twists and turns to be revealed there.
Other:
Volkov: 1) helped me get over the sting of Luc very quickly for some reason; 2) has a name that is maybe a bit too on the nose? I mean, it's a wolf jam, I'll allow it I guess; and 3) I'm not sure if you're going for Russian authenticity or not since he's from Totally Not Russia after all but FYI Russian names don't have "middle names", they use a patronymic. So like, he wouldn't be "Dmitri Roman Volkov", he'd be "Dmitri Romanovich Volkov" if his dad was named Roman. If that's not what you're going for, feel free to disregard.
Random Karsk Stuff: not sure if you're aware, but pressing "H" to hide dialogue also hides the entire overlay in the Karsk facility. Radiation readings, darkness, flashlight, all of it. Doing that, I also noticed that Volkov's suit doesn't cover his tail? Is that intentional? Kinda feel like you'd need that covered too. Dialogue in this scene felt a bit too casual, more like a Marvel movie than a grounded take like the tone seemed to be suggesting up to that point. Could have used less dick-based commentary while exploring the facility.
Anyway, really, really enjoyed this and looking forward to seeing what you come out with post-jam. Thank you for your service.