I was going to do this as a first look, but I really just want to talk about the imps.
I stumbled across this on Steam recently and remembered having played it (and its predeccesor Spud) eons ago. My recollection was that it was a bit 'out there' but also a bit of fun, so I thought I would give it a go.
What I hadn't remembered were the imps. About 10 minutes in, they came flooding back.
In short, you need to gather imps in order to solve various puzzles, but also to save the game. Every save requires sacrificing an imp through a rather convoluted bit of inventory management. The fact that you can die makes saving an imperative. Which means having a fairly constant supply of imps.
That you can perhaps work out where to regenerate imps just makes the whole thing more infuriating. I am not surprised that 'saving with imp' didn't catch on.
There are infuriating things in many games, but many fewer games are defined simply by their frustratingmess quotient. Gord@k is top of my list in that regard.
I am in three minds about whether to continue. You could argue that because I hadn't remembered the imps that is reason enough to continue, and I could take your point. That said, now that I have remembered, it is a bit like a horrible thing you suppressed but has now been let out

If you played it I would appreciate your thoughts as to whether or not I should press on.