Thanks for the feedback, and glad you caught some references :)
Organizing the speech bubbles was a big "next todo" item for us and we just didn't get to it... we wanted to keep the controls absolutely minimal so the player could do more exploring instead of constantly interacting, but I don't think the balance was quite right. We also wanted to telegraph the ladders/ramps/secret door more, but making the art was already up to the last minute! So that balance didn't entirely work either. Thanks again for your detailed feedback!!!