This looks brilliant so far. I just discovered the original edition today and fell in love with it. Are you by any chance considering publishing the new one in some 'early access' fashion? I'd be more than glad to spend some coin on it.
By the way, i came up with an idea while playing the original - the "sidestep" dodge looked really obscure, like if the character just stood in place and the blade swooped right through him. If you intend to still use this mechanic in the new edition, maybe you could use some layer-depth shenanigans to better visualize the sidestep? For example, make the player a tiny bit smaller and the enemies a tiny bit bigger to make the illusion of distance between them?
Anyway, good luck with the project! I really enjoy your work.