Awesome feedback, thanks for all the input! Some thoughts:
- We're definitely trying to err on the side of too little rather than too much hand holding, but of course there's a thin line to walk between respecting the player and totally frustrating them, so we're listening closely for how common certain problems are to adjust balance for subsequent builds.
- We've gotten consistent feedback that the black narration boxes/dialogue options are not appealing, and I agree. The confusion because of the lack of visual contrast between narration and active choices is also majorly problematic. It's near the top of the list of priorities to begin testing alternatives for both, and to make them clearly different so the dialogue selection interface is more aesthetically interesting and more clearly presented.
- As for the ladder puzzle, there's definitely a solution, and like Cheeseness mentioned it requires some backtracking downstairs.