Thanks for playing and providing your feedback; appreciate it!
I'm adding some features like the ability to sprint, I've also done some work to enemies and combat -- I just kinda slammed them in randomly as time started to run out; kinda out of balance. I'm thinking of adding a map, but not what most people would want -- kind of what you would find when playing games in the 80s. The notes not pausing gameplay is a bug I need to fix.
You need to go East from your starting point and follow the path to the Town, the building with the busted door has a key. You then gotta go West out of town to find a building that has the axe. The next update should make all that clearer.