Appreciated! I was fully planning to add health (I even had an idea for a game over screen), but unfortunately I just put it off for too long and didn't have the time to. I agree that it lessens the fear quite a bit. Heck, even the hurt animation/sound was done at practically the last second.
The (mosly) lack of knockback was my attempt at making the game a little less boring, as you have to back away for some enemies instead of just sitting there and holding the button.
Would it have been better if you had combos and stuff, instead of a simple hold-to-spam move? And on top of that, would it have been better if the enemies were refined and had actual attacks instead of just walking towards you like goombas? Yeah, I think so at least. When I get to remake the game I definitely gotta rework the whole combat system.
Also I'm really glad you liked the atmosphere! I LIVE for making spooky stuff, so it's not surprising I put 100% into that instead of the gameplay. Thanks for your thoughts!