This one confuses me. Not in terms of like, plot or theme because I think I'm picking up what you're putting down (or maybe I missed it and I'm gonna get the ol' Big Dumb Dipshit hammer later), but more in how I'm reacting to it. I categorically don't give my scores in reviews because I feel like those aren't all that helpful as feedback and they may detract from anything else I have to say, but I feel like I have to here to kinda make my point. Between this year's and last year's jams, this is the second entry I've ever given a perfect score, but at the same time, it was like I didn't feel that strongly about it when it ended. It's objectively good, I just can't help but feel like it's missing something to push it into transcendent.
I dunno. I'll try to talk it through the best I can.
Implementation of Theme:
I guess I spoiled above how I'm reading this, since perfect score and all, but I think we're sufficiently covered here. I feel like I had to have had "Bermuda Triangle" spoiled for me at some point (maybe someone mentioned it on Discord?) but I immediately made a note about it as soon as the script mentioned going off course northeast of Cuba (though you'd still have to be waaaaaaaaay northeast of Cuba to be talking about heading west towards Florida and not like, The Bahamas). I'm not really giving myself credit for the spot, but I think the Bermuda Triangle is an interesting and novel choice for folklore and it thematically jives really well about everything about Colin's life disappearing as he spirals further into depression and insecurity.
Worth noting here I guess too that the whole "vampire" thing could also count towards folklore? Like, I get that Colin is not literally a vampire, but the use of vampire folklore as a metaphor for Colin losing a piece of himself isn't nothing. Maybe I'm stretching here, I don't know. Box checked for me anyway.
Presentation:
The art here is very good. Everyone else has already said it's very good, and you know it's very good, so I don't know how much more I need to say about it. The script was well proofread with just a few minor errors throughout, but nothing too distracting (Colin seems to forget how many Ls are in his name sometimes).
The soundscape was generally good as well, though if I was to gripe about anything here I wish we got a bit more explicit audiovisual tension as spooky stuff begins happening on the boat. We get really tense music in the final scene, but I wish there had been more of this earlier too so the presentation feels like it's building to a crescendo along with the text. Like, the script does such a good job of conveying Colin's fear as the navigation system and compass disappear, I just wish audiovisuals made full use of the medium to accompany that text.
Story/Writing:
There's a kind of weird thematic parallel between this and Nat One where both are dealing with insecurity and depression, and the way every successive event just seems to beat you further and further down, but they couldn't be more different tonally. To oversimplify it, this is kind of like Nat One if there was nobody to catch you when you fell.
Like my review for Clam Story (and apparently I'm just all about references to other entries tonight) I don't particularly care whether Colin's actually on the boat or if it's all-in-le-head or what, the thematic progression is the most important thing here and I think that comes through. The boat is reflective (irony!) of Colin's interpersonal relationships; one thing disappears, and it isn't really noticeable. But then things keep disappearing, and every time Colin tries to course correct, to find something else to lean on, that disappears too.
Regarding Colin's friends, clearly they have some truly brutal lines in the VN ("Don't guilt people into giving you the pity you think you deserve" - fuckin' yikes), though I wonder how much of this is verbatim and how much of this is just Colin's perception of those people once he feels like he can't do anything right. This especially plays into my reading of Kurt - I agree with Pink's assessment that Kurt really isn't an antagonistic character, at least not in the same way or to the same level that Hunter is presented. Even though Kurt says some pretty hurtful things to Colin before his disappearance, he was there, and he did go with Colin even though he thought Colin was chasing a pipe dream. When you feel like you've done everything you can for a friend and they're still withdrawing or pushing you away, it can be easy to fall into that mindset, and come to the conclusion that maybe you are better off apart. But I think there's also a chance that if Kurt hadn't disappeared in that moment, and he'd had another opportunity, he still would have been there for Colin, even if Colin assumed he was gone forever.
I'm kind of torn on how I feel about this, because the VN's relatively short length does help keep it concise and effective (and also limits the number of unique art assets required for this visual style) but I wonder if a bit more establishment of the "normal" before Colin's depression started spiraling could have been effective too. It feels harder to capture the fall when we're already starting close to Colin's lowest point, and I think maybe introducing the reader to good parts of Colin's life, then taking those away would have made the dread more impactful. You kind of already do this to an extent with Kurt, but the situation with Kurt is also clearly already tense at the beginning of the story.
Creativity:
Yeah, I'm not sure what else to say here. The premise is great and the execution was really solid. There are parallels to some other entries, but this was incredibly distinct in terms of both visuals and prose. It's a very well done piece, and hopefully there was at least something of value to take away from that ramble.
Final score of 12 mojitos out of 10 Cuba libres from me.