I had to play the updated version, thanks for sharing it.
I still love how it looks and how smooth it plays with combat going as fast as the player want to.
Combat still needs some work, as you get it it's super easy to never get hit just reusing the same exact pattern everytime.
Also I don't mind dead ends myself (when eating either the ingredients to progress, or the one you're meant to give to the 4 people) but I feel like it's far from consensual so one way or another it might be preferable if it's impossible to reach a dead end.
Is the game meant to become something bigger? You certainly have the basis for something really cool, sounds and visuals, movement, combat feel ... everything is right on point.