Thank you so much! I tried to balance simple base mechanics with a somewhat complex stat+curse system, and all the while kept thinking back to my first roguelike experiences and the feeling of not understanding their worlds but sensing that there IS something there to understand. I know it sounds like a cop out for not making better mechanics, but not having everything explained was very much part of the design. The initial idea was much worse and I had to grind it down to this level, and I'm still not quite sure I'm there!
Moving down was probably the largest change from typical roguelike fashion, as it's an action you can do from the get-go, even as your first action, but it's punishing and I made sure you can't win this way (you'd actually certainly die before level 4, I think). The balancing of what to do around the sacrifice opens up some nice avenues for different builds, it looks like :)