Oh, I didn't get too far! I mostly spend time doing mindless rotations around the first level farming to see how the mechanics worked, since the combat was fun. Control-wise sometimes I felt like I was getting hit in the gap of time between my swing and dodge, but that might have been me just playing it too risky.
If you do get hit its pretty punishing, I found myself spending $ to full heal a lot and not buying upgrades, or farming grass /jars to stock up. I wasn't trying to progress though, as much as just poking around to see what happens :)