Thanks for playing! :D
Great points, for sure. Interestingly enough, your soul _does_ shoot out faster if you had some momentum already, except I think I made it too subtle for players to notice. That mechanic was actually the "key" trick behind the bridge section, but I think it would've been much more obvious if the boost was more pronounced, or if there was an additional animation to go along with it.
Gotta do more playtesting during the jam next time!