Thanks for the feedback!
Somehow restarting the game fixes game feel 😂
About the impulse on attacking, I've heard people be positive and negative about it. With the negative being, that, when attacking a chunky enemy up close you kind of move to his left/right from that impulse because it pushes you into him. It's probably fixable if first you do a raycast and see if there is anything in front before applying the impulse.
Blocking enemies take normal damage from the back and also take more posture damage from the back as a way to counteract the large dmg decrease.