Thanks a lot for your feedback, I greatly appreciate it!
I agree that the Pawn should probably be able to use his tools in all directions, like the Knight and Archer (which can attack in 4 and 8 directions respectively). This was partly done to discourage fighting as a Pawn, as it is not their main use, whereas the Knight and the Archer are specialized - and should feel a lot better - in combat.
As for controls, interact and pick up already use the same key, just dropping resources uses a different one. This is mainly for the situation, where you would carry some resources and are near some other resources on the ground. In this situation you have both the option of picking up the additional resources or dropping the ones you are carrying.
But I can definitely see your point about the controls being a bit too complex for such a simple game.