Funny idea, and the hats are really charming. Getting one and losing it right away made me laugh.
I ran into something similar to what dporto described. I did see the control hints at the bottom, but I still often didn’t know what I was supposed to do next. Reading what the inputs are isn’t quite the same as understanding how the mechanics work together on the board.
Since you asked what could help: a short interactive tutorial in the first levels might do a lot. For example, the game could highlight one tile and ask you to rotate it, then highlight two neighbours and ask you to swap them, and only continue once you’ve done it. The same could happen whenever a new mechanic appears later, like the magnets. Once you’ve done each action yourself, the hint text at the bottom would probably make a lot more sense.
The puzzles themselves feel fresh, and once things clicked I enjoyed them. With a gentler start I think more players would stick around long enough to get to that point.