That snake is serious business. I couldn't figure out if swinging the sword was damaging things, and if you're far into the maze at all and the snake finds you, it's basically over.
The maze itself does a good job at being a maze. Certainly felt lost at times. Finding furniture or the dragon skeleton and piles of gold, or the bookshelves/cupboards felt nice, because it gave a sense of progression, even when I wasn't finding any of the pick-ups.
Do the pickups do anything? I think the green one healed me, but aside from that I was having a hard time knowing if they were there to help the player in the maze, or if they were simply the objective.