Thank you so much for playing the game and the detailed review!
I absolutely agree with all your points. My original vision was much closer to your suggestions to start, but I had to rush to get a working game in time for the game jam, so a lot of it got taken out unfortunately.
I do want to continue this project and my goal would be to have it be a traditional roguelike extraction game so the old-school vibe is a great compliment. With the shop being something outside the grave maps, you would sell what you got during a run and stock up on items for the next one.
The flashing player is actually the visuals cycling through the different entities on the same tile so you can see what is there if multiple items are on the same grid.