Hi there, and thanks for taking the time to leave such a detailed comment! Sorry it took me so long to get around to replying, too; it's not that I was offended and didn't want to talk, I just...really don't check in on this page very often, what with how little traffic it gets in general and how infrequent updates are.
The game does seem, all things considered, to be a bit harder in practice than I intended it to be; at least based on the opinion of the one other person who really discusses it with me in-depth. And looking back, I can definitely see how the Catbird stage might be a little much all at once.
I suppose it also kinds of lacks focus, initially having a more complex, navigation-centric control scheme but then kind of going bullet hell, with the exact same control setup. More basic obstacles, and fewer enemies with slower rates of fire wouldn't be a bad idea by any means.
I look forward to hearing more feedback from you in the future. Negative feedback can sting at times, but it'll sting a lot more if I get it all at once in the form of post-release Steam reviews.