yeah, a checkpoint system definitely should've been something Id built from the start. unfortunately it was pretty late when I realized it really needed one and it would've had me restructuring a lot of code. I put that time towards more polishing and toning down the difficulty to compensate but I'm not too sure that that was the right choice, haha. I think something like Hyper Light Drifter's checkpoint system would've worked really well here.
Thanks for the feedback!