Thanks for coming back, and thanks again for your constructive feedback! It was fun watching you play again, and I admire your patience in dealing with those bananas.
Some of the things you mentioned I've already been working on for the next update, but you also brought up some really interesting new angles to consider, which is super helpful. Next update, the dash will make the player invincible, getting hurt will give you a window of invincibility and I've tweaked the balance to make ranged combat a bit less powerful compared to melee. You mentioned incentivizing close-up combat and that's something I'm really into and hadn't done at all, so I'm looking at ways to make the combat more fun and rewarding. Also enjoy the idea of weaponizing the dash, so will play with that as well. Everything you mentioned, I've noted -- clueing in the player more clearly about the less obvious systems, etc.
I've been retooling the boss fight as well, and the next version will probably not have the gaps in the floor and just allow the player to focus on avoiding and attacking. The i-frames on the dash make the bananas easier to deal with now, but those might need to be toned down more as well. (Also, bananas is canon now, thanks.) I've also added a checkpoint system, so you don't have to reload your save every time you die, and might make it so you just skip the boss intro the second time around.
Thanks for checking back in with the game, and for offering your honest thoughts. Much appreciated!