First of all, very impressive for a first jam. It is impressive to get ANYTHING across the finish line and there's a lot of great things here. Things that I loved - the art style, overall concept, and take on the theme. Obviously I wish there was sound but I know that's a difficult resource to find.
Some suggestions for the sword animation and attack - my hunch is that you based the attack hitbox on the sword swing? Sword attacks typically only have one frame of "wind up" or they even go immediately into the full swing on the first frame. Having multiple frames of pulling out a sword results in a sluggish attack, and players typically want to cause damage the second they hit the button. The general rule of thumb is that the player should attack immediately with little to zero "wind up" and enemies should be more sluggish and have more "wind up" to allow for player response. I'd check out some pixel art tutorials on YouTube that specifically address attack animations and how to match them up well with your gameplay.
Great job though and I hope you keep expanding on this game! A little more polish on the art and speed up that attack, and I think you've got a really great project. :)