Oh I don't think I ever even saw the second keyhole lol. Ok the press I did find, but I honestly thought it was an obstacle, and yeah I can see how the brain/heart typo can happen when devving in a rush. The health and mana plates kinda make sense then, but I don't think I ever saw a message explaining that? I like the fact they exist though because I did worry at points about running out of mana. Eventually I just kinda relied on refilling mana by levelling up lol!
I've struggled with level design for pretty much all my games outside of the extremely linear ones so I feel your pain. I think the map is at least interesting, which is half the battle of making a good level imo. I did read your reasoning in another comment for not making an in-game map, but tbh I think even a basic top-down view (even if it shows just the rooftops and alleyways) would help in determining how far North/South/East/West the player is. The jams a learning experience though, and I imagine all the feedback has provided a lot to re-examine on the level design.
You could make the turning an option, I noticed at least one other game used the same control scheme so you're certainly not alone in that regard.