For a first-time effort, this is a really well put-together little game! All the little secrets you can find, the changes in character dialog after different events... it's obvious you've put in a lot of planning and effort.
As you said, there is a little bit of a learning curve for the first part of the game - I died a few times after making it to the village, where I immediately got mauled to death by a dark man and a wolf after going right into the first house. But the first section is short enough and the game compelling enough that it sucked me in, and replays became more of a challenge than a frustration. Plus, with each death I learned more about item and enemy locations, and which order to gather the items in to make my life easier (if you're wondering: boots, ax, stamina potion, belt, pendant, goggles, lantern, oil). I also appreciated how the enemies are still tough enough to keep you on your toes even after you find weapons.
I will say the abruptness of the endings was a slight letdown, especially after taking the time to find everything while still beating the clock - sort of like beating one of those old Nintendo Hard 8-bit games only to get "YOU ARE GREAT PLAYER! SEE YOU NEXT TIME" - but the game is still a lot of fun. At least they make for a good sequel hook!
A few points of constructive criticism:
1) The tutorial for the lockpick is somewhat opaque. It took me quite a few tries before I finally got the knack of how to use it. One thing that contributed to my confusion is the character's idle animation where he looks from side to side - I thought at first I was supposed to match the button press timing with that. Some sort of visual cue, or rewording the tutorial text, might help.
2) It wasn't immediately obvious how to defeat the giant. Most bullets bounce right off him, of course, and the dialog from the priest made me think that perhaps I needed to find a way to pacify the giant, rather than killing him. I eventually had to turn to a YouTube playthrough by Manly Badass Hero (which is where I first found out about the game) to learn how to defeat him. Maybe the hunter's dialog could be tweaked to drop a hint to aim for the head?
The addition of the cursor when aiming the gun in the latest version is a *huge* improvement, by the way.
Once again, a great first offering. Hope to see more from you!