I really liked all the mechanics you added to the game! The sword, the vines, and the double jump that you unlock later on. It really adds a lot to the game to stop it from being stale.
For criticisms:
- The dialogue text is really blurry. You should try messing with some different fonts and sizes to make the text more visually appealing to the player
- I was using arrow keys and shift for movement, and having to use 'g' and 'h' felt really bad. Rebindable controls would have really made this experience much more enjoyable
- The character movement speed is really slow and floaty. I think movement similar to the og super mario bros is what this game is going for with the acceleration and floaty jump. The main difference is that in super mario bros, the variable jump height feels more impactful, and even when not fully accelerated, mario doesn't feel like he is too slow to control, which I feel is the case for this game
- I also encountered a bug from the first time I hit a timer block, where each time I threw a knife, there would be a white circle where the knife landed. It stayed like that all the way to the fire at the end.
Overall, the main thing I would consider would be some movement tweaks and making the game more accessible to players. I think you did a great job with the mechanics and level design! Congrats on the submission!