Alright I get your vision and respect it.
I'm always up for harder games but at least in my eyes, heard games need to be fair in order to enjoyable, so any quality of life features are welcome at least as long as they dont make game too easy. (At least I didnt get that fair and hard feeling while playing this as I got with cuphead or hollow knight)
I would still highly recomend to try make game a bit more readable (more clear what attack and or if enemies are trying to counter, I was kinda unable to tell on my laptop screen at least, adding sounds to enemy attacks and counters beggining would help) but ultimetly is up to you. (I previous comment I was talking about enemy counter not players)
Good luck if you want to continue this project or in future ones. :D
(Also sorry for an essay of a response, I might be a bit too passionate about making games :\ )