i do like how the game does have like a nonlinearity to it and encourages sequence breaking but like theres a lot of thought about very certain upgrades needing to occur in a specific order like you need mantis claw for crystal dash and you need crystal dash for the double jump and
acid swim. you need the double jump for the
shadow dash
and you need either of the two spoilered things to reach important late game areas
and they will not let you do the late game platforming hell area without getting the double jump which is the last of the movement/platforming related abilities so like you cannot access it until you have all you need to do it
im gonna hyper analyze this forever. game design goals