I finally defeated the leprechaun, whack fol lol le rah. I stacked as many blues as I could.
I like the new animations and the gift shop is a great addition. The game is still decisively RNG based, but that's a great way to let the players handle some of the worst risks.
The fact that you also start with a couple of additional items is also really good and I felt more encouraged to fight enemies from the get go. Before that the first encounter was always the most difficult besides the boss.
You even start with a lemon which is really smart because that item sucks so you immediately have a decision to make between deleting it for 50 or trying to get new items for 50-100 a piece to decrease the risk of rolling the goddamn lemon.
Yellow items seem kind of weak in general. I imagine that's because accumulating money is a vehicle for snowballing which seems like a good balancing mechanic if that's the case.