Honestly, you surprised me. This is a strong entry with great ambition and I enjoyed the available content. That said, I'm a bit sad that it isn't a contained experience. I like the mechanics, the boss battles, the chit chat... and the alluded story feels like it has substance, aside from the theme. Now, I do feel that the minimalist chunky pixel style chosen for the characters clashes with the very detailed levels, backgrounds and bosses. A unified, consistent style while keeping the light vs. dark theme would elevate this game a lot more for me. Furthermore, the levels are a bit too big because they aren't filled meaningfully. It's a slog to backtrack one entire area. Lastly, while the difficulty was fine for me, you get one entire health back per enemy, which, combined with the ample health already, made traversal inconsequential aside from the challenge courses.
This has potential. Good job!