Thank you for your feedback! I appreciate it.
Regarding short-teleports - in fact Olaf's position is interpolated, but movement is fast, so it may still look like teleports. Barrels and boxes are currently parts of tilemap, I'll refactor that so they will have interpolated position too.
I think it's supposed to be part of the "Olaf is retracing his previous steps" gimmick
Yes, you are right. I think I can add popus over objects with possible direction when you are going to pull them, so it will be easier to understand what is going on.
Regarding restart level: I recently played in "So fart away" and liked how they implemented restart level, when you need to hold the button for some time. I think it will help.
Regarding buttons - I'll do some UI refactoring in overall, and will think how to make that modal better.
Thanks for kind words about writing! I send it to the writer. You can skip several levels and go to the sawmill, second part of the demo. I wonder what you'll think about Grimlark.