The Sandman is very sort of a sequel to The Crooked Man. It’s is pretty solid in story terms. There’s some stuff in the initial setup that seems clumsy, but it actually pays off very nicely in the second half. It rerminded me of The Witch’s House in that there actually was a reason for seemingly incongruous stuff like putting the frog in the slot.
Designwise, eh, random RPGmaker style flaws. There’s cutscenes where actual gameplay stuff is accomplished and “gameplay” that is figuring out what part of what room she needs to stand in her house to get the next thing to happen. Also one of the puzzles requires numbers and you’re supposed to look at your phone and use the time despite that having nothing to do with anything as far as I can tell, they just share letters involved.
But wow, the story was really worth it.
(If you play, make an extra save right before showing the pink gem, that’s one of the two decision points for the endings.)