Really appreciate the feedback!
Yes, the fail condition was supposed to be a soft fail which connected to the overall narrative, the level themselves lacked a bit of balance which made it look like there was no fail state :( - again, a learning experience for sure on the game design side and scoping !
We will definitely implement your suggestion of about digging the canal by only clicking adj. tiles instead of previous then adjacent!
Thank you for playing the game and the helpful suggestions!