I am happy the game never felt stale. I really tried to making the progress of mechanics feel natural. For the scope for such a short game I felt a level save state was a bit overkill. I hope it did not bother you too much.
No it the save state really helps a lot! It was a thing I wanted to add to what I said but there's so much good things about it. The save state really helps especially for someone like me, who sucks a puzzle games.
