Thanks a lot for the feedback.
The original plan was, to have the skulls spawn in clusters. That would have created a minesweeper-like effect, where you can think "Oh crap, I ran into a skull... now I have to find a way around the cluster", which would also be a solution to the "boring-straightline"-approach (or you choose to keep your straightline through the skulls)... but I didn't have the time to do this.
The idea of rethinking the path after failing is good, but didn't fit the theme of the jam, so I might implement it when the jam is over ;)