I played Dark Anomaly (final jam version).zip
The reasoning of benefitting upgrading is fair, presumably it wouldn’t be a problem if the early game combat training were implemented, I will say! I think that alone is probably a good incentive to continue working on this for Super Metroidvania Month, honestly. Like I said, there’s a lot of potential here.
As for revival… yeah, that tracks that it’s just something that didn’t get caught during development. It happens! My own entry apparently had a semi-obscure softlock leftover in the finished thing, and I actually had several playtesters go over the game, so it’s not like I can’t on some level relate on that one.
Best of luck with future updates!