Thank you for the feedback!
The theme is explored through the player ignoring the monster to decrease their anxiety as not ignoring it meant that it increases and would cause you to fail sooner. But ignore it too much and it would find a way in. I agree it could be clearer.
The cover was done last minute by me as our artist was unavailable on the last day. I just generated a few images in midjourney and jumbled them together in photoshop with some colour adjustment and overlays so it doesn't match the game graphics. I was thinking more like the cover art for old game boxes which tended to be much more graphically detailed than the basic pixel art graphics the games had.
I didn't want jump scares to be a big part of the game so kept it toned down and wanted a more tense and suspenseful atmosphere instead, with it slowly coming to find you once inside. But I definitely could have made the final moment more of an actual jump scare.
I will see what I can come up with and release an update when the jam is over.
Appreciate your time!