Very charming visually!
Im surprised not to really see many sidescrolling interpretations, but it works! I also really like the boss, very crispy.
This may be a personal skill issue, but with the way the combat works here, it feels like Brutus is kind of worthless. I think something this game could really use is some extra movement options, like a dash, to make up for the fact that enemies oneshot you on contact no matter what. Itd be a different story if the characters had health. And like Dev Pirates said, a checkpoint system would be wonderful!