Hey Docile Fright, good to see you in the jam again! I also had my zip file extract separately, it's surprisingly easy to do on accident (I have for sure compressed things in the game folder instead of compressing the whole folder). Once I gathered up the pieces and made a new folder for them the game fired up and played for me just fine. I like the new setting and I could tell there was some additional effort made to establish some storyline and world building elements, which I always appreciate. It's starting to feel more and more like there is a bigger world to discover by exploring the levels and talking to the NPCs.
The gameplay still feels very much like the the version that I played last time so I don't have any new critiques or comments there. I liked the controller support (Did the version in IMGJ 30 have that already? If it did I don't think I tried it out) but I did have some trouble accessing my level up menu without using my mouse. It might have been an operator error but I think I tried all the buttons and the game paused and everything, I just couldn't access the menu's with the controller.
The follower/helper creature also seemed like a new addition, and I like where you are going with it. I was a little unsure of what the creature was doing, it appeared to be doing some straightforward attacks to help out but maybe it was also doing some sort of character buff as well? I could tell something was happening but you might add something to signpost more clearly what the helper is doing for your character. Seems like some distinct improvements though happy to see all the new stuff!