Glad you liked the experience!
I like your idea of an increase in the amount of audio cues experienced when picking up the ears. As is so often the case with these things I left sound until embarrasingly late to pad out... so it did get neglected a bit. Another commenter also suggested pitch shifting the footsteps which was a great idea too.
Narratively, I do also think it's two quite distinct halves which maybe don't fully gel together. I do agree something purely visual may have been more effective, as some of the dialogue way maybe a little on the nose.
Thanks for playing!