The lack of location variety really just boiled down to lack of time sadly. I had all 26 stages + travel decor planned out but I had to settle for the waystations/markets/flags as deadline closed in. It really wasn't hard to come up with them. Enemies are a definite "no-go" since that'd undermine the entire premise behind the setting.
Appreciate the feedback on the first level tutorial not being enough handholding. None of the playtesters had the game page and were able to understand how to play without additional instruction but there's definitely improvements that can be made to it + adding a way to call back the instructions somehow.
You'll definitely see me again, either in your own jams or elsewhere.