I prefer the 4 circles glyphs that shows the appropriate face button highlighted. It’s device agnostic and helpful when I’m switching between playing on my Switch and playing on my PC with an Xbox controller.
During EA for Hades 2 if you paused while fighting the god of time he would say “I control time here!” And unpause the game. It was funny, but if I need to answer my door I don’t want to lose my run. Thankfully that has been changed.
There are also areas you can’t access until you have beaten a specific boss which gives you exploration abilities for future runs (ground pound, grow vines)
I loved the scarecrow sequences in that. I would love to play more games the effectively fuck with player but it’s very difficult to look for without spoiling yourself and then you’re expecting it.