Hello, thanks a lot for playing (and that's a big amount of time!). You're right on everything and I hope I can get this clean enough for the next DD, bindings being maybe the hardest to execute.
I pushed a lot before the deadline and it's clear the game lacks sense, but I'm glad people like you still got something out of it and can both be positive and (justly) negative.
The Artifacts being given was to show/see the system in effect, and give a chance for players to complete the demo at 100% if they wanted.
Quick and visual Tutorials will be a priority for next DD as it's too cryptic even for what I believe I'm starting to identify as a target audience.
Levels are absolutely not balanced so far for later floors. I'll balance from the end, but I want to build the base first (systems and their context).
I hope to see you at next DD for your feedback is valuable, and I'll play your current submission as well when the time is good for me!