At least didnt notice the hint button being lit up, but then again, Im not sure I paid any attention to that button until I used it, so it could have been lit and I just thought it being at normal stage.
That is also possible since when I quit the game, I quit on a map where the character had magnet in his head, and when I instantly didnt realise how to get forward, I stopped. And only after I had stopped playing I recalled the Hint option, that could have at least used that to see how the, probably new mechanic, had worked. So one possibility is that it was not lit, and I didnt notice/remember for that reason, and perhaps exactly because it was lit, I noticed it in the tutorial.
Recursion was once again having to do with other games actually.
One of the very few puzzle games I have lately enjoyed, was Gentoo Rescue: Gentoo Rescue on Steam
It had similar overworld system, as you went into similar locations, and then it went one layer down, and possibly even another, and then there were the levels.
I guess that might be some system that many puzzlegames nowadays use, I have however seen it only in your game and Gentoo Rescue.
It is basically quite fun system giving bit more depth, and by the way, Gentoo Rescue had same problem as your game, it didnt have any story. I might have bought and played through that Gentoo Rescue, had it had some story in it, but now it was just similarly go from one level to another, similar to yours, that I didnt find enticing enough to play through.
However, in your game it started by going those layers down, which made me afraid that I have to remember, either now, or in the future, what is up there to get forward. So you could say that problem was that first "puzzle" I encountered in your game, was something that made me think I might have to memorize something, by other words, first thing I encountered in your game was something I disliked.
So the layer system in itself is not necessarily bad at all, Gentoo has it too, and although I like it, I do have to say that it is also at same time bit annoying in Gentoo Rescue, since it does make you need to memorize places to get some places. So it is at same time fun and annoying. I would say that boils down to overworld design in the end for me probably, as in, design it right way, and it can be just fun without being annoying at same time.