Those death animations were everything, even the sound effects were synced with them. I think my favourite was either being cut in half or face ripped off by rats. Doing the gory stuff is usually the most fun part when I'm making my sprites.
Your game was really interesting once it got going, I struggled a bit with the puzzles but I've never been good at that kind of thing. I think if you refine the game a bit you could have something special.