Hi thank you for the feedback. I understand that it isn't very intuitive in the beginning. It is true that the controls are a bit weird and that the progression can be pretty opaque. There is at least the item book to help, but it is very likely that it is not enough.
I have used the current control scheme because I haven't found one that I felt worked better, and it isn't perfect.
Escape can be used to exit menus in game, at least as far as I have tested. Does it not work? If not, I need to look into it.
You can zoom using E.