Thanks for the elaborate feedback and also that you appreciate the (art)woork :)
The gameplay becoming dull after a short period of playtime is definitely a valid point. What I would have liked to implement is some kind of challenge to catch him within a certain time or with a limitted number of investigating hideouts. Also the idea of having decaying footprints to follow seemed cool in my head, but I managed only to realize a trimmed version of that. For the above issues as well as the idea of having another level I just could not manage to do more in that time.
As for the animations. That's actually interesting, because I made them way more apparent at first! But I decided it would make it too easy and thus changed the hints to be as subtle as they are now. Probably it was just my point of view and the fact that I knew what to look for.