oh thanks for the detailed feedback!
interesting that you somehow died, definitely a bug, it should be impossible to die in any section (you just get a time penalty) - need to take a look at what could cause that.
don’t tell anyone, but there are some cheaty cheats (ctrl + shift + T) will put you at the top of the initial platforming section
completely agree that having the portal to boss be a checkpoint would make a lot of sense
also slippery controls… yeah, I overcooked those a bit, thought it would add to the challenge but probably ended up hurting the fun instead - fair point