Played the browser build for a few minutes. Honest note first: it took me about three minutes to work out how to do anything. I tried arrow keys, WASD and space, and the character never moved. What finally clicked was that the claw IS the cursor, and you grab things and drag them to build your way up. Once I got that, “PULL YOURSELF UP” made sense, but until then it reads as a taunt rather than an instruction.
Two small things that would fix it: show the click and drag control on the first screen, and maybe have the claw open and close once on its own before the player touches anything, so the grab is telegraphed.
What already works: the open hand turning into a fist when you grab is very readable, and the palette is strong. A dull grey level with one red thing moving in it means your eye never loses the claw. The timer counting up instead of down is the right call for a puzzle like this too, no pressure while you are still learning the trick.
One bug on the title screen: there is a grey rectangle sitting over the right side of the RED CLAW logo, and the credit lines at the bottom overlap each other so a couple of them are cut through.
Good foundation. The grab feels tactile once you find it.