Sorry that both you and Naishi ran into the same issue — I’ll make sure to put a disclaimer in the comments so future players know about it.
As for the barrel throwing, I noticed that when the object is thrown while running, it sometimes ends up bouncing back toward you. I wanted to balance it around that, but I see now that keeping the throw speed more consistent would’ve made the mechanic easier to understand. Speedrunning the game might highlight that better, but I get how it felt off during normal play.
Thanks again for the thoughtful feedback, and sorry for the softlock — the ending was right there!