Nice work! The sound effects and the darkness creeping in really made for a good atmosphere, and even for a 2D game like this I felt pretty spooked at times when the monsters came out to get me.
I like the idea of exploring the cave and looking at the runes, although I wasn’t totally sure if I was meant to simply activate all the runes, or use them somehow? But you mentioned there is no end game currently, so I’m guessing that was just something you didn’t have time for.
It might have been nice to have a little more feedback when attacking enemies - the fireball seemed effective, but I wasn’t sure if the melee attack was actually working, or if that was just meant for lighting fires? Still, it was fun to try and stave off stress until eventually having to fight off the monsters before resetting to a checkpoint.
Congrats on the entry!