Thanks so much! I'm glad it didn't feel unforgiving. Glad you liked the elites too, I crammed those in at the very end to add some optional power-up content.
Glad you liked Akarsh! I love making boss battles, and he was a ton of fun to script together. In general I think the pico 8 restrictions helped a ton with keeping the game really focused in terms of scope.
Thanks a ton for playing and for the kind words!