I think you have something there with the mechanic. First it took me quite a while to understand what I was doing, but as you mentioned before tutorial was missing which I understand completely with the time pressure.
I think the gameplay itself after a while ended up a bit repetitive, I think more powers and more often some tiles to actually change would make it more fun to see that what you do makes a difference. I went for the first skull and changed it and I enjoyed seeing it grow to a rose as well!
It has it's moment and with some time and polish I'm sure it could be very fun!