Alright I finished it now with a death count of 11 (could have been 9 but I got impatient), following your update (and needed spoiler ;)) and I got some feedback:
- You can completely bypass every AI waiting obstacle by standing directly behind the AI, their turn circle is too large and they will just walk around you. It felt like an exploit though I dont know if that it was an intended strategy. It obviously got more dangerous when there were multiple AI around.
- Maybe the AI also need to be a bit more lenient about spotting you. Now its an infinite range instant-kill laser, while a slightly shorter range and/or an increasing detection meter would really take some edge off.
- The sound for dying is really loud lol. I had to mute the game.
- Although I never missed the jumping puzzle after I put the pieces in the right place, it feels unnecessary that if someone did miss the jumping puzzle, they'd have to go around and die again. A simple staircase back to the start feels better.
- Your improvement to the AI waiting game at the lower level did work better, though the AI's at the higher part still waited around for a long time.
Cool concept though, and with more work this could definitely turn into an interesting puzzle!