The advancements you have made since the last time I played are really great! It feels much better to play this time around and the atmosphere is a major step forward as well! The nostalgia vibes I was getting from playing were making me smile and I am genuinely interested in purchasing this game should you ever finish it.
Combat felt very stiff, probably because while I could move in any direction I wanted I could only shoot in 4 directions (I tried both keyboard/mouse and controller and they felt the same). Enemies are such damage sponges that after my first encounter I took to simply running away. Maybe if you decreased their health but also decreased the ammo you can find it would make combat feel more rewarding while still preserving the need for resource management skills.
Thank you for the demo!