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100% this.

No too harsh at all. That's why I do these things! I really appreciate it. 

I like the whale level. My second level is a bit like this, where you have to swim up to the beaver. 

I think you're showing me that I need to be a lot clearer in what the goals are, and I can push certain aspects a little further. The game does teach you how to swim when you first get the whale, but I like your idea of going much deeper. I think your level makes more sense than my second level! 

I think with that the design goal might be to really exaggerate the skills of each animal. So if you have to swim, really make the player swim. If you have to climb, add a lot of climbing, same for flying. 

I thought my first level was the tutorial. lol. It's too complicated! I have a newer first level that I will publish on Friday that is the "first level of super mario" teach you to play stage. It's much better. 

I'm wondering about the controls. You're think they're a bit junky, do you mean they're too fast and unrefined? I should have some ramping curves, etc (I think Mark went over this in the Celeste video)? 

I also don't want any chance of locking the level, so I really have to think about how I'm going to make that possible. 

Thanks for checking it out, I really appreciate the comments!

I definitely need to fix the puzzle locking. Some character dialog / prompts would help too.

good idea, maybe when you grab an animal it checkpoints the level to that spot. 

Thanks for checking it out and taking the time to share some ideas!

I like the idea overall. You can never go wrong with games about running from the undead.

My only criticism is that the hit boxes seem too large and unforgiving. It's hard to see when you're going to hit an enemy. 

Congrats on completing the jam and well done!

Hey! Cool game! I like the tutorial and death sequence. They added a nice layer of polish. 
I wanted an indicator that showed how much dash power I had and maybe a bonus that replenishes it if I knock a lot of blocks out at once. 

Overall I felt it was a strong, clear concept. Congratulations and well done!

Nice so far. I like the PS1 style graphics. Reminds me of Brave Fencer Musashi which is an under-rated classic. The Hyperlight Drifter influence is noticeable and I think you're hitting all the right notes with it.  It's inspired by, without coming off as a clone.

Gameplay is great so far. 

Suggestions
I'm going to just summarize my Music and Sound related comments to: Relax your approach to sound.

Music: Let the songs play and don't change the song from screen to screen.  Changing the song too often makes it feel like you're constantly changing direction as opposed to working towards a goal. Maybe with each new screen or step towards a goal you can add a layer of music giving the player a clue that they are getting closer.  This is something that Disasterpeace did well with huge tracks like "The Gauntlet." 

New Song = New Area = New Goal

The whole first area could be one song that changes when you get to the boss. That will get our attention. Exploration time is over... Time to fight!

The music sounds well done. Let us hear it before changing the track. 

Sound/Music Production issues:

Some of the effects and musical interludes seem to end abruptly with a click/pop. Let the sound fully play out.  It'll add to the size of your game, but it will sound a lot nicer. The clicks are happening because the sound is being cut off. Before ending the sound, do a quick fade out (50-100 ms). That should remove the clicks.  But, overall, I'd just let the sounds play out longer, especially if they're reverberating/musical in nature. 

I know it seems picky but it's something that I definitely notice and takes away from the overall quality of the game and it's an easy fix.

Controls:
Let me bind the mouse controls to the keyboard as well. I don't have a middle mouse button on my laptop trackpad, so I wanted a keyboard key for lock on. 
I know it's a pain in the butt to program in this control stuff in Unity, but it makes for such a great user experience.

Camera:
Being able to move the camera is great, but take control sometimes to focus on puzzles, directions or interesting vistas.  It'll help you get the player going in the right way, and allow NPCs to make directional suggestions ("You can go this way <pan camera to show that direction> or that way <pan camera to show that direction>") It'll make it more immersive and allow you to make trickier puzzles. 

The tightness of the controls and tidiness of the interface make this stand out.

I would definitely patch your bugs and also respond to any early criticisms. I think that is totally fair.

I increased the number of enemies that spawn, fixed a controller bug, tweaked the scoring structure, and added a bigger pickup to mine based on an early review. It didn't even occur to me that I wouldn't be able to fix/tweak my game after I published it. I intend to continue fixing/tweaking and adding stuff after the jam is over.

Jam Rules.

1. The aim of GBJam is to create a GameBoy themed game
2. All assets must be created during the duration of the Jam
3. Keep in the original GameBoy screen resolution of 160px x 144px
4. Use only 4 colors in your game

Thanks Alex. It started out as just white but I felt that wasn't creepy enough.

FamiTracker is also a good choice for NES style music. It's not as accurate as Deflemask but a little less difficult to learn.