The monsters could be avoided by setting up torches to distract them, tricking them into getting stuck behind walls, or simply waiting until they get out of your way. Alternatively, just let them attack you and take the risk. Honestly, most of the time went into trying to write the AI for the mobs. This ended up being so buggy that just I scrapped it for the time being.
Improving the janky controls is definitely what I'll focus on first if I'm gonna develop this further.