Hey, sorry I missed this thread. The Steam version is technically an update or two ahead, but the changes are to address some very specific issues for some specific people. Things like a foreign language font character adjustment for someone's fan-translation they are working on, or testing a new build of Unity that's required for the Xbox build. If any update was actually important or fixed bugs I would bring them to other store platforms! The changes would mostly never be noticed or even destabilize the game, so I wouldn't really push them unless necessary anyway.
Thank you so much for taking the time to explain, Adam! This makes a lot of sense. I want to support you here instead of Steam and GOG due to itch's better sales cut, yet - back then - the version jump seemed notable at a glance (and I have purchased other games on itch before that hadn't received the latest update ><' ) so I had to ask, but knowing this now makes the version jump negligible. Will be supporting you here! :D