Thanks for the in depth feedback, I really appreciate it and it's invaluable for me to refine the game!
I was fiddling around with removing the hearts all together but I had painted myself into a corner (pun intended) with the gameplay. I think if I keep the HP system I should just remove the sprite for the heart or create a transparent one to ensure people can actually see their health. I agree the combat doesn't really jive with the vibe of the game and I'm hoping to get time to revisit this game and put a bit of narrative and refine the combat to be more focused on painting and less focused on bullet hell combat...I've got to muse a bit on how to make that interesting!
Finally totally agree, I had issues getting the character controller to feel right I'm hoping to resolve these issues (mainly I think the hitbox pivot is not as responsive as I'd like)
Again thanks for such detailed feedback and for giving it a play!