Great minds think alike apparently. This game is definitely very different from my own project for sure, don't get me wrong, it's just amusing to me that I wasn't the only one who thought "what if Metroidvania but you gave the upgrades to other characters" would be a good way to approach the theme.
My personal amusement of the coincidence aside, this is a pretty fun game. Admittedly I have yet to solve the puzzle of the game's layout but I'm sure I can figure it out eventually, it's fun enough just trying to work my way through it only to see that I missed something and reset.
I do have to wonder if the dig is supposed to basically be a freebie like it is though, given that you can just... dig everything first, then go back and give all the gifts. Might be easier to actually solve if you go about it as though it weren't a freebie though and used it as part of the basis of the solution, lol.
Anyways, nicely done!