Thanks for your thoughts! I know text adventure games aren't for everyone, and it was a bit of gamble for an IF-style competition. But I'm glad the tutorial helped and you had fun.
Re: your proposed solution. I definitely feel the frustration! It was hard to balance that game mechanic, and I think it's been a mixed bag: for some people, that's just how they want to play. For others, it's a fun mechanic. And what I really wanted was a sort of implicit puzzle on top of all the other puzzles, which is: how can I do everything I need to do most efficiently? The implicit puzzle is figuring out what is needed and what is not. But, again, I 100% understand how that would not be for everyone.
It was also the reason I made sure that the time loop never interrupted story/contextual information. Only movement. Any time you were in a computer terminal menu or reading, the timer would not progress. That was super important to me.
And I'm very glad to hear that the map helped! One of my least favorite qualities of text adventure game is being obtuse. I wanted to make sure the player knew where they were and (thanks to the walkthrough) could always find a way to progress. Hopefully that came through even though you felt frustrated with the time loop mechanic.
Thanks again for playing and leaving feedback.