Thank you very much for the kind words and thorough review! I really appreciate you taking the time, you gave me some great ideas on how the game could be improved.
Another thing (which is on me for not communicating it well enough) is that the lava is actually water haha. The game is set in a seastorm, and i picked a red color pallete to reflect the chaotic and violent nature of one. It makes every bit of sense that one would assume it's lava, but I wanted to clear that up :)
I'm very glad you enjoyed the game! (Congrats on your Easel prize!)