The idea has potential for at least one of the concepts present. Which one that is though probably needs to be figured out with testing.
As it is right now, like the poster below me said; the optimal strategy is to just leg it past everything.
This become apparent in the very first level where the reach on your dagger is so pitifully short that hitting enemies becomes more of a hassle than anything and because it isn't mandatory then I dealt with the enemies that were directly in my way.
The art style is a decent enough classic Zelda-inspired look.