A fun and pretty-looking game, but it's also a bit buggy and really hard. Some of the sprite work is genuinely really nice, especially the grass and sky background and the thorns, but I think the gray rocks are a bit too gray and could use a hint more of brown or blue to make them pop a bit more and look a bit less "stock." I also love the design and animation of the main character, I think they're really adorable and the idea of lugging a giant backpack around is really neat!
The chained attack combo is pretty cool and satisfying, although the cooldown after finishing the full combo seems a bit unnecessary, and the large forward momentum often makes you run into enemies or pits. However, the health recovery from killing enemies does offset that last issue a bit, which is a nice touch! Speaking of enemies, I like the variety of designs and behaviors, each type really feels unique. I think you're already aware of this, but some sound effects and perhaps a bit of knockback for the player getting hit would be a nice addition. ;)
I found many of the platforming challenges in the game to be very difficult, and I was close to giving up many times. A few of them, like the blind drop into a dash through a 1-tile gap right after getting the dash ability, felt downright evil and like something from a rage game or a romhack. The breaking platforms give you very little time to breathe, and the instant-kill spikes can be frustrating at times. I think a big part of the issue is the jump physics, as it seems I always jump to the max height no matter how lightly I tap the button, compared to most platformers where you can jump higher or lower based on how long you press the button. That said, the generous checkpoints and the save feature are definitely very appreciated, as I certainly wouldn't have been able to finish the game without them!
Going left from the start eventually leads to an endless void, which I assume is unintended but still quite funny! Going into and out of the first NPC's house was a bit confusing at first, and the wobbly text on the NPCs feels a bit excessive. The tooltips for various objects in the world also seem a bit buggy - the tooltip for the dash ability had a bunch of glitchy characters that seemed like it was meant to be formatting markup, and the tooltips for buildable ladders appeared very far away from the actual object. Some of the areas felt a bit empty and repetitive, but some of the spike sections with the dash were actually pretty tight and cleverly designed (even if frustrating).
The beetle boss was a cool final challenge, though it took me a while to figure out he could only be attacked from behind. (And funny coincidence, since I also have a beetle boss with a similar mechanic, and I imagine similar problem!) He wasn't that hard once I figured out the strategy, though again I sadly didn't get much use of the combo attack against him, since it felt like doing more than one attack at a time just led to me taking damage. After the boss and the last NPC, I climbed some stairs and saw what looked like more level above me, though I couldn't figure out how to get up there, so I guess that's the end of the game for now?
All in all, I had quite a lot of fun running around and even started to get some masochistic enjoyment out of the difficulty. The idea and setting is quite charming and a clever interpretation of the theme, and I love the main character!