Thanks for trying our game! And I am glad you like the little touches with the animations, I sometimes go overboard and get looks from my other half who has to implement them. lol
yeah I feel bad about the backtracking that everyone is having issues with. Besides the rooms looking a little too similar, we didn't make it obvious enough that you can move the Oldman from the beginning room to the courtyard after his younger self unlocks the door in the past. Which I think would have reduce the backtracking a bit.
As usual, I won't comment on the movement. But it's obviously something a lot of the players feel can be tweaked, so I'm sure the team would look to improve it if we do further work on this project!