To help guide the player along in a way that makes sense, I added a couple of NPCs. One of them is the shopkeeper, who both greets the player when they interact with him and tells them a little about how to get started. Another NPC further into the game informs them about how to get rid of an obstacle without directly disclosing it. This both allows the player to figure the solution out themselves and gives them a clue so they are not completely lost. 

A small problem that would occur when people played the game was that they tended to fall in the river or down the mountain and get stuck outside of the play area. A simple solution to that was to add colliders around those problem areas, which prevent the player from accessing out of bounds. It’s an easy solution to a big problem.