Hey thanks so much for the feedback and for getting through the demo!
There are a LOT of things the player learns throughout this demo, so you may have noticed that I tried to keep tutorials quite sparse when I could.
But this approach certainly also has it's downsides, as I think you're quite right in suggesting the pace and cognitive load demanded from the player is pretty high throughout.
In the full release, there would be so much more time and space to play around with each character, mechanic and ability so the learning curve isn't quite so steep.
So I 100% agree with you!
And the optional puzzle is certainly a tough one!