Hi there! Thanks a lot for playing and for leaving such detailed feedback! Glad you enjoyed it overall, especially the art and music!
Sorry the PS5 controller didn't work, I tried with a PS4 one at my brother's and that did work, I thought it'd be the same... How odd. It definitely works with an Xbox one though! And yeah, i suppose this may be why it was more difficutl to chase the enemies wwhile playing with the keyboard.
Also I don't know why Full screen and window sizes didn't work properly for you... I'd have to test on different setups to find out what the issue is I guess... It really should go full screen, sorry you had to play at the tiny 640x360 size :/
A few points you mentioned are actually in the game: At the very beginning, the Quing gives you a map which you can open with M on the keyboard. It doesn't work in closed areas, but it does for the town and for the large open areas to explore. Furthermore, it does show you who you've rescued in town (the character's heads appear over their building once they're back in town), and if you've rescued Fortuna, she can show you where some of the lost villagers are, and add them to the map, so it gives you a bit more guidance to explore.
As for the stats, you can see them briefly on the field by pressing Backspace on the keyboard (or Start on the controller).
All this is detailed in the controls section of the menu.
Space will be used later for Jumping, once learned, but I'll look into ways to add another interact/cancel button, thanks for the suggestion!
Yup, I understand how some players would be frustrated to wait until they learn how to Dash to move around quickly, but honestly it should be the second ability you can learn (after diagonal movement), so... sorry for them I guess xD. I mean it's not that far into the game, and it just makes much more sense to have to learn it just as any other ability. It would be inconsistent to only have that one from the start. And also, it makes chasing Evil Spawns easier so it's a way to renew the gameplay after a while.
Let me know if you progress further in the demo!
One last thing I should add: I started this game in VX Ace, which is why it can feel clunky and old in some areas, but I'm thinking of porting it to MZ. At least I have all the assets, I'm hoping it won't be too much of a pain to reproduce all the mechanics plugin-wise. I'll try!