I really like the idea, the number of craftable things feels great. I do wish it was possible to know what those items are before crafting somehow but that’s fine.
I did manage to beat the game without crafting once as I simply did not have the opportunity. As I understand it, the boss room is always the top leftmost room in the map? If you spawn close to it, just bee-lining to it is not too difficult.
The boss itself is not as hard as trying to kill one of those skull guys without taking damage. They lock on to your position right before flying in, instead of when they stop and start charging. They are very difficult to dodge and it never feels fair in my opinion.
It is a fun game. There is potential for a longer game.
EDIT: Found a pretty annoying bug where recipes that use health can kill you, instead of not letting you see that crafting option like what happens every other time you are missing items for a recipe.