Stellar entry! It was actually Phixer and Fantom that gave me the courage to try making a metroidvania myself so I was really excited to see what you’d do with more time. I also was initially confused by the first boss but that set the stage well for the rest being more “puzzles”. I think my only real suggestion would be a more detailed map and 75% in I forget about a path I hadn’t tried and wandering started to feel a little tedious.
The secrets were well spread out, I really enjoyed the writing and atmosphere. I also hit a lot of issues with the ant queen, the initial shockwave would frequently lock me against the wall, I think it took 4 retries. I was very thankful how well checkpointed it was, I hate when I accidentally stumble on a boss because I randomly chose a door.
Also, I love his feet, the run and glide animations just crack me up.