I don’t really get it, a puzzle has a solution, it can have multiples, but still a puzzle has a set of moves you have to make to solve it, and the interesting part is figuring out the moves/ the order of moves to achieve the goal, which yes, is designed by me. Still I can agree that maybe it is too simple to figure out, but what you said is literally how a puzzle game should work
Both Increlution and Terraformental have scaling built in, where you get better at actions over time. Maybe the "perfect solution" is to go in order B A D C on loop 18, but you can still get through with B A C D on loop 23 after grinding a few times.
Having that escape hatch lets the developer make the game more complicated, because the player doesn't have to be perfect to get to the next area.
It also increases tension and mystery during exploration, because the next step might genuinely be impossible until a few more loops. So you never know if you are "supposed to" be able to figure it out or not.
the problem is your game is like walking through a maze, but take even one step off the "correct" path and you get reset back to the start. its a puzzle without any game, without any soul or fun. its like telling someone that to open a door you have to move forward or back left or right in a very specific set of steps, and after the first 7-8 steps suddenly there are no clues to go on and you have to brute force it.