Yea those are some major flaws with the main mechanic. The level numbering should be seen more as just labels I guess, otherwise you there are issues with attached meaning to the numbers. For example if the direction of the numbers were reversed, it would make more sense when you die and go down a level instead of up, but then the enemies are easier on the higher levels which is counter intuitive.
And even with the fact that the player is technically forced to shift down to the bottom level from the start every time, I think it's necessary that it is the player making that decision and consequently understanding that the initial level is sort of the "base reality" in which the real meta objective takes place, rather than the game deciding for them and perhaps resulting in confusion. Also the time in previous levels has to be slowed down so much, in order to be fair to the player, that it might as well just be paused. Overall I'd say the mechanic is more fun in theory than it is in practice haha.
Just have to press escape again to exit pause menu, but I definitely should have made that clear - sorry for that!
I'll pass on your compliments to the rest of the team! Thanks for playing :)