We really didn't. No time limit was announced, and the numbers looked skewed or even artificial, especially given the three choices that were provided were AI like or outright AI drawings, designs that didn't even look like the characters that represented no noses, and those ugly stapled on noses. There are a plethora of comments in the entire comment section saying how bad the noses looked, as well as other things. Hell, there were more people down voting or disliking the few repeating commentors defending or praising those noses then there was any one liking the noses. You just shunned your old fan base based on the comments I've read. Which means no one will be playing this game for long once they see this design choice.
Besides, itch.io has plenty of games that have magic and brainwashing or mind control mechanics, this doesn't only seem like bs or a lame excuse, it pretty much says everything you did and said before these changes didn't matter. I still remember those written speeches against the payment processing and that one download that was using this game's old original designs to express how manipulative the payment processors are.