My brother is the developer, so I passed this on to him. More spoilers:
Most of the inconsistencies in the reset behaviour are to prevent players getting stuck in a fail state with no way to escape (especially players who aren’t trying to break things).
You can get to the ending without resetting. You cannot hit 100% without resetting.
This depends on where you draw the line between reasonable/unreasonable. If I’ve done my job right, you shouldn’t need to do anything that feels like a bug.
I totally understand why resetting had to be kind of complicated / ad hoc, and I think that this was a reasonable compromise. I don’t think uncertainty about resetting matters much in the scheme of things, it’s a great game.
My brother is the developer, so I passed this on to him. More spoilers:
Very cool that your brother is the developer. It’s a great game.
Thanks! Reply:
I totally understand why resetting had to be kind of complicated / ad hoc, and I think that this was a reasonable compromise. I don’t think uncertainty about resetting matters much in the scheme of things, it’s a great game.