I loved every second of this. The mechanic and the story/message work so well together, and the art and music made the presentation really great. My one (extremely minor) complaint (that I'm reeeeallllyyyy reaching for) is that the sword timing took some getting used to. Once I got it though, it was super satisfying killing stuff :p
Seriously though, awesome work. There's a lot of good stuff in this jam but your game does an excellent job of introducing a mechanic, and allowing it to mature. It definitely left me wanting more, so please make a full game and let me buy it!