Thank you for the feedback!
I agree with basically everything you said. Unfortunately, 80% of the game was made in the last 2 days and we didn't have a Game Designer, so most of those things flew over our heads.
About the rules of the jam: we didn't break them! I quote the passage that makes it legal below :
"The only exception to the "wordless" rule is that you may display specific control buttons [e.g. a controller "X" or "Y" button, or the "WASD" keys] as on-screen prompts."