Sorry for the late reply. I am launching the app after extracting the zip file provided, straight from the exe. I am not using the Itch app and as i said i am on windows 7. I also tried v1.0.5 but the issue is still there.
i dont use an antivirus and my windows defender is off, so a false positive on an antivirus is definitely not the issue here. Also, as i stated, one of the files that it says is missing does exist and i can see it. Weird.