Ok finished the demo. If you try to do everything you can it will take 4-5 hours, which is a huge amount. If you just go trough the main story it will probably only take you around 1 hour or a bit more.
The starting area is unlocked, i'd say within a kilometer radius of the town center. If you go out of bounds the narrator will just tell you the area is off limits and teleport you back within the area. It's good they give tons of freedom inside the demo area you can basically do anything the game has to offer inside the radius.
The story is intriguing, naomi went to the village for a job offer that promised to cover her massive debt, stumble into murder at the end of the demo which obviously hides some big conspiracy behind everything (the dead lady in the trailer so i dont consider it a spoiler). Looks like the whole main story will be about whodunit and the magic thing that turn people into animals.
In between, you do various tutorial main quests that introduces you to the main mechanics (shopping, hunger, basic crafting and cooking, turning into cats or dogs, and photographing)
The main way to get money are sidequests and photography. The side quests are good to decent. They are given by NPC and teach you the more in depth side mechanics, as well as telling their own story. The characters are funny and zany (reminds me of the inhabitants of the city in zelda majoras mask) and while sidequests are linear, the story/dialogue/character interaction gives them context that it doesnt feel like generic quests.
Earning money by photography requires you to upload to social media, and there are trending topics like for example, squirrels or certain types of food, if you find them and upload it, it will generate massive ad revenue that earn you more money. Like regular photos will net you between 100 to 500 likes, that will earn you a few euros, if you submit picture with relevant types (each objects have a category ) you can get thousands of likes that will earn you more money.
Some flaws i found is sadly so far not every single houses are enterable, only the major character's so there are tons of houses and bulding that are just props.
The control can be awkward, especially the platforming with cats, and the game is a bit janky here and there, but relatively very well polished for a demo