I'd say that unreal wasn't the best fit for a game like this, in the best of worlds! It probably made everything more complex as it's not really the kind of games that unreal is designed for!
You're spot on about that, lol. For better and worse I like it and it's been my primary engine since I started learning it a few years ago. I plan to make different kinds of games in it. I've steered clear of Unity for Reasons but I may still learn Godot at some point, or make 2D games of this scope in Game Maker instead which I have experience in as well. Notably, this project was also a prototype for a mechanic I plan to add to another game as well, that I'm making in Unreal, which is why I didn't use GM for the jam ^//^;;