>I've been thinking if I should remove rest sites and shops etc. and attach them to the end/start of regular levels instead.
the bad feel i have with the current shop system is that if i have the option between "shop" and "shoot", i'll always pick shoot.
perhaps have the shop ALWAYS be every third level, and you can pick between shop and shrine.
having it be at the end of every level is too much, and having it at the end of every n'th level is basically what i outlined above but it's communicated to the player easily on the world map.