Wow I really dig the vibe of this game, and considering you did all this yourself? Damn good job.
It was funny to learn that my attempts at finding the Saint was wholly futile when I saw you clarify in another comment that there was no "good end" haha. I had retried so many times determined to survive.
I really like how even though dying makes the game harder, the story still progresses and the environment/characters also change in some manner, so even though there's no point in trying to "win" the game there's still incentive to move forward for narrative value.
The ladder mechanics were a bit janky which lead to breaking my ankles frequently, but otherwise the controls we alright. I appreciated the character limp but I ended up spamming jump to get to places faster.