Played the whole demo
I liked the challenges a lot! I feel the bullet hell part of the game has more importance now which is nice. Random thoughts:- The companion is cute and I like how it reacts to your actions. Right now I feel his art style clashes a bit with the rest of the game. I believe it has something to do with its shading or maybe its size (it is bigger than the MC, which makes it a bit distracting).
- I hesitated a bit on obtaining the axe powerup in the sewers because I thought having the rolling bomb was better. At the end I think I was right, the axe doesn't shine here and feels like a trap. I believe it would be better to introduce the axe in a room where you have to go up, not down.
- At certain point in the sewer I felt trapped by the flower shooting up through the hole. It is almost a guaranteed damage.
- I entered the challenges with the sword which made a couple of them much easies. You might want to remove held items when a player enters them.
- At some points I felt I was damaged after destroying an enemy. I'm not sure if the enemy existed for a few frames after dying or the explosion hurted me.