Awesome dude, I'm really glad you liked it. Your first sentence had me concerned (my god is this not well done) but I see that that is a typo. I completely agree with the character feeling stiff, in the past I've spent way too much time on animation, but now that jam time is over, I'll come back to that and give it more life. Worm (caterpillar) enemies are intentionally hard to detect, just to set them and the location in your mind.
I don't want the game's intro to be too long, but did my best to pack in as much as possible. I don't really want to add more characters, but I'm aiming to have them reappear throughout the remainder of the journey, like during the boss fight. They will tie into the story, so hopefully that will keep them relevant. How you say the story is a slow burn, do you already think the intro is too long? The goal was to make a big town of people, all with something interesting and relevant to say, but not necessary, so that people can pick their own pace.
I'll also play around with the combat, cos it is a tad bland. Some extra reach would be nice, perhaps as an upgrade? Although, you've seen the last powerup, so extra reach doesn't really make sense. I'll play around with it all, but I think the short spear range will make the last powerup all the more sweet.
It's awesome that you're enjoying the levels, I really want to make them as open as possible. The screen transitions things is a known oddity and will be fixed. There will be more secrets, and I've got a lot of interesting ideas to make the world even more interesting, stay tuned.
Thanks for all your nitpicky feedback, that's exactly what I need to make the game better. Thanks for playing and supporting the game =)