At first I did not understand this at all. There's a lot to understand and you have to understand it all pretty quick because the game is pushing you forward into death.
I kept at it, though, and got into the rhythm of the signal, and really the turning point was when I realized you could swing your weapon to make the spinning saws move.
Once you get a feel for it, this opens up and becomes a good game with a high skill ceiling, which makes the leaderboard a great addition. It's great fun to slowly get better at something and climb the rankings, and you designed it really well so there's always something you could improve, if you just do one more run...
I think if you improved some of the initial experience to make it easier to get to the point where you "get it", that would really help. For instance:
1. At first I found it hard to look away from the action to the signal, and wished the signal was visible "everywhere"; like, maybe if it bathed the level in green or red light, or at least lit up your character red or green, or was attached to your character. As I got better, I stopped caring about this because I learned to just keep the signal in my peripheral vision, but as a noob it was rough.
2. It's hard to see the grid and judge exactly where you are, which leads to missed jumps and walking into stuff. The player floating slightly above the floor adds to this effect.
3. Perhaps some UI indication of your health and how many "free moves" you have. Though I guess keeping these hidden makes it require more skill, especially the free moves.
4. I'm not sure about the auto-move. It seems to function mostly as a time limit, where if you don't pick a move in time it fucks you up by pushing you forwards, often hurting you. Was this intended, or was it supposed to be helpful?
The level design I thought was great. There was just one part I didn't understand, with three portals in a row against a wall. It just seems to kill you? The only way I found to pass it was to touch the leftmost portal then quickly move right twice. You take damage but get through. I have no idea if this is intended or how you're supposed to approach this part.
Anyway, despite some rough edges early on, there is a good game in here, and it would just take a couple tweaks to bring it out.
(Also, programmer fist bump for writing this in C++ with no engine.)