Thank you for playing and for the thoughtful response and encouragement! I'm glad to hear this was something new to try. Those are really good points and they'll really help inform my future work.
I agree after some testing and hearing your and others feedback that the movement I programmed in, specifically the jumping mechanics, are not a great fit for the level traversal demands the game puts on the player, and also just don't make for easy play. There is something in the code to tamp the upward velocity as soon as jump is released, and I don't know that having this coupled with lower g is really what I should be doing given precision and speed are important factors.
I appreciate your comment about the view port, I was hoping that not seeing what was above and below could have that effect. My tendency I think has been to imagine my platformer ideas with a zoomed in feel, so it helps to have the feedback in both directions about how it makes the game interesting sometimes and frustrating at others. I think I'll have to be very conscious in level design of what impact each zoom level will have, maybe crack open that cinemachine manual some more : ).