Gave it a go after seeing your post in the thread. Since all the visuals are WIP and you specified you're looking for feedback on the combat/controls/mechanics, I'll focus solely on that
>Does it (combat) feel responsive?
Sortofkindof? Things like melee punching feel very bad. Even if that was the most powerful way to play, I just wouldn't do it since it looks and feels lame. There is barely any feedback to punches landing.
In comparison, smashing someone down to the floor with a well placed top-down heel kick feels very, very fun. I basically only did that and the roundhouse, which was also fun to pull off. In general, your ragdolls behave in a silly but satisfying way when they work. They look downright goofy and broken when they don't but it's WIP so no big deal. My suggestion would be to pick one or two combat moves and add details from start to finish. For instance, depending on the style you're going for, speedlines or something when the player's leg goes down. If it connects to the enemy, add some impact sound when the leg hits, then another when the enemy smashes into the ground. If you want to go more over the top, add smoke/air ripples circle things, cracks on the floor, blood, whatever
>Does it (combat) feel intuitive?
Also depends. I would have never figured out the controls without the Help popup. But knowing the controls, I was able to play and had no issues. In many games, especially this DD, I can read the controls and know them, but playing the game I would instinctively reach another key because that's what my brain is used to (ex: playing the greek tower game Godfist, they have right click bound to pick up box. then to throw the box, you press right click. I always wanted to use leftclick, and I would do so then remember "oh shit, its actually right click, fuck"). I didn't have this issue here. While playing, the controls made sense and things behaved as they should.
Sometimes the collisions would fuckup and an enemy would react to a kick that either happened a bit ago, or not react to a kick they were hit by, or react to something that I felt was too far away. It's WIP so it's not a big deal, and it only happened 5% of the time so it didn't really impact the overall quality. Just means that it needs more polish.
Another tip would be to ease the difficulty curve more. The first wave should be like 2 enemies, then the next level you can start ramping things up, etc.
Keep it up, hope to see you next DD