I love this game!
When playing it nowadays you really have to consider it's time of release. It came out when these walking-simulator-horror games were en vogue. In these games you normally don't have any combat mechanics and can only run away from some overpowered enemy.
This game really plays with the expectation of you playing one of these trivial games, but instead tells a heartwarming teenager story, that really surprised me back in the day.