i dreamt an elaborate dream about a fake Big Sequel to this.
surely that's a measure of great play value, and how well it kept me playing it for an entire day, to darn near completing the collectathon (i'd also played the gamejam iteration as a test and ended up completing that one too).
seeing the fun kinda challenging to execute side-mechanics that aren't Important to playing the game but make it all that more interesting is immensely fun, too - such as kicking your blade out of the air when you throw it, or doing a sideflip out of a sliding jump for way more height.
I sucked at this game. some challenges were irritating to get through, but i managed to do them eventually - some, even, in 'unintended' manners - very happy that there's enough player freedom to do a large amount of the game in unique and personal ways.
i do agree with other players that adding a world map would be very helpful to use as reference for where you've been, and what little spots or locks you might have forgotten about - it's easy to get lost. sometimes it was a good thing, sometimes it wasn't.