Really cool game, and the integration of the theme makes for a really cool gameplay loop. It would have been cool if at some point Howard would path find their way to the water fountain to give you a safe chance to upgrade without leaving him to die. other than that, the only thing I would mark as a criticism is a lack of sound effects. Even if you just spent ten minutes in a free 8 bit sound effect generator like BFXR, you could have packed a serious punch with your game!