Your comment on accessibility is spot on.
It was the thing that got axed due to time constraints that I'm sad for. If I had like 3 more hours, I could have done much more.
But playing other games, maybe the arrow keys + z, x, and c keys would have helped (or maybe as an alternative scheme).
The seaweed were one-way gates, with the shadows as a hint for the direction, but I recognize that it was not clear at all.
Thanks for the comment. :)