A bit of a spoiler here....

All of those things you describe (the right/left cave dream, the crates, the rats, etc.) are random island events -- they don't all happen in every game.

If you've done all the puzzles, then you've finished the game -- if you're bored watching this village, start another player on a different difficulty level and play again....or start two or three more. You can have 5 players going at once if you like.