Thank you for playing, and for the extensive feedback!
- The chase sequences were definitely Ori inspired, yeah! Although, I think the specific one I actually had in mind the most was the wolf boss from the second game, even though that one's less known for its chase sequences. Was also thinking of the cat from Animal Well when making these.
- There is actually a quick restart! It's a button on the pause menu though, and the pause menu's not readily accessible in the browser version as it's bound to esc which also exits fullscreen. I'm planning on releasing a postjam patch so I will be adding an alternate pause key to fix this.
- I did toy with a variable jump for a little while but quickly decided it just didn't feel right for this project. I agree that the level design could've been much more carefully done to suit this decision though - in general a lot of the later level design is just really unrefined, especially in the second chase sequence. I think a good bit of the trouble people have with the sequence just comes from the level design often being really unclear there.
Really glad to hear that you enjoyed, especially the chase sequences (despite the difficulty jump which I'm not addressing here since it's already been talked to death in other comments)