Holy hell, this is a lot, thank you for taking the time go through it. I will review it tonight and solve. I would be interested to know your resolution... since the "not knowing where to go" is commonly created because I am designing on a ultra-wide ratio. So what I found was, what is barley off screen for me is totally gone for other resolutions. Thanks again for all this testing!
Viewing post in Flicker jam comments
I also dev on an ultra wide. I suggest doing nearly all your play testing in window mode with various 16:9 and 16:10 resolutions. Besides that being the way most of your players will experience it, it's also a good habit to make sure UI elements are properly position and scaled.
Other player-guiding things that come to mind are just visual cues. Simpliest would just be different colored parts of the floor that act as a path.
Here's an idea that just popped into my head, since your level is a castle in disrepair, if you player is on a large platform, have a short wall surrounding the entire platform. On the place where you want the player to jump off, have the wall broken up. Players will naturally be drawn there. You can zoom out as they approach to subtly hint to them that they're on the right track.
Another idea, you have large torches that act as checkpoints. When the player lights one of these torches, have a line of smaller torches on a wall light up in the direction you want them to walk. The player doesn't have to see the whole path ignite, just enough to get them walking the right direction, then they can follow the torches.
Or maybe have a room with rats or cockroaches that run away when they see your light, leading you to the exit.
I'd suggest looking up some videos on metroidvania design and how to guide players.
I was just working from memory and throwing out suggestions that popped into my head.
Like if you manually light one torch, it starts a chain reaction of small torches like a foot apart, leaving a trail along the wall to follow.
Just one of many ways you can visually bingo to the player where you want them to do (or lead them away from secrets)