Thank you so much for playing!! Now that the jam judging period is over I've uploaded an update to the game based on user feedback that makes a number of improvements to the world progression, fixes a few of those softlocks people were running into, and overall just a bit more polish I didn't have time to get in before the deadline. I hope if you end up giving the game another shot that the updated version is a better time!
Totally agree on the levels feeling a bit too spaced out - I ultimately want to go back and completely re-evaluate the world progression from the ground up, and making levels a bit tighter is a huge part of that goal.
Really appreciate your feedback and kind words!