hehehehe we got a return customer!
thanks so much for playing and giving the feedback, it helps me out a ton! next update will have dash attacks, improved ui, and more functional menus
the key at the beginning is not essential for progress, it just unlocks a door to a test chamber at the end of the demo where you can fight enemies and play with power baubles and modules. its a scene where I do a lot debugging and testing. but if you made it into the mines you've been through everything so far.