Hi there! I appreciate the feedback. Actually, I've tried the control style both ways and I found that dual sticks was really only useful if the right analog stick was ALSO firing when it was directed. Ultimately I chose to go with the lock system - something that is employed in Cuphead and I felt worked fairly well. I agree that it's not a perfect system, but to each their own.
As for "scarcity," there's actually no health in the game and you only have 4 hit points. So outside of the game's concept being that of a city of monsters, using the sound of the theme over the literal meaning, there's also the literal meaning of a low amount of health to make it through.
I do appreciate the feedback, though. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Control schemes are definitely one of the design elements I struggle with most, so I'll just need to work on it. Congrats on finishing and thanks for commenting/rating!