This is an excellent puzzle incremental, a lot of thought has gone into the progression system. It's very easy going into the game to feel that you'll have to grind for ages to get anywhere, but I now think this isn't true at any point in the game and that if you're walled, it's because you haven't pieced together the next part of the puzzle. Things can feel tight until you've unlocked a fair few characters but from then on there's often multiple solutions to a problem, including the end boss. Clever design that's difficult to get right.

On balance, this puzzle-based progression can sometimes can be a big ask and I understand that not everyone knows what they're getting into, particularly from a genre that is defined by the grind. If I hadn't read the campfire hint that this game isn't supposed to be slow, I might not have seen it in that light and my review might be different. I recommend putting this hint front and centre in the game.

My only criticism is that navigation can be tricky at the moment - as others have mentioned, the map doesn't entirely reflect the available routes. I'd recommend displaying the lines that the Wayfinder can light up all of the time so that players can more easily plan their routes. It'd also be useful to indicate which fights have been won so that players can easily see where they've still got progress to make.