Hope I'm not trespassing on any necroposting rules, but even though I'm late to the party I thought I'd give my feedback.
I just finished this one last night, and I just have to say that the ending was really great. I didn't expect what transpired at the end, and the fact that there was such a sudden transition from "go here and find this to open this door to go here" gameplay to the cinematic final sequence was very cool.
Some of the puzzles were pretty neat (crafting metal shards in the furnace, for example) and while at the time they kind of flabbergasted me, in hindsight they were a unique aspect I really enjoyed.
Basically, great work! Really enjoyed it. I am curious though, after reading through the thread I saw that you had the intention of posting what your personal interpretation of the story was, but I didn't see it as I was reading through.
Oh, and I'm uploading my playthrough on YT, naturally: