You said "narrative element" - I'm uncertain about it, the game lacks that part. I thing adding more feedback to the player would fill that missing narrative element - the game doesn't show that in itself without reading the GDD. It will be added in the future versions of the game.
The deal with the artstyle mishmash - lack of time. I made the tile set the day before submission, replacing placeholders. :)
And the reason why the cover image and the shop look better is that they were made by Skw972, not by me.