What a different kind of experience (in a good way!).
Like that the onboarding was part of the dialogue system, though got to be careful because the tutorial bubbles were emitting at the same time / over the story bubbles.
I love story-heavy games, especially when the creator has a vivid imagination that can be translated into game design and art. While playing this game, I got an odd feeling of nostalgia for some of the mid-'90s top-down freeware games on the Windows 95 / 98 that existed for a time and then disappeared.
Regrettably, I too wasn't able to get past the second stage. The introduction of many new inputs along with the unforgiving level design and knights that require two hits (and given the limitations of the swiping mechanic—lack of movement while attacking—necessitates you take one hit if the enemy doesn't die right away) made it so my HP was already close to empty by the time the rapid-fire fireballs were coming down. I wasn't able to utilize the new controls anyway as I guess I missed collecting the blue orb.
Loved that the enemies take each other out, lol. Wasn't able to immediately figure if there was an attack button or not, so navigated most of the first level just evading enemies, and they had largely taken care of themselves by the time I first pressed the CTRL key.
Appreciate the imagination here. Just be sure to slow the pace for improved UX so the player has some time to adjust, and these interesting stories can be enjoyed in full. :)