I think it's ok first mission. Slapdash, very unpolished and with too steep loot requirement and - occasionally - dream logic of progression, yet… I spent 1 hour playing it and somehow slightly liking what I've seen. It was sometimes juvenile and funny but sometimes in a good way. I don't want to be too harsh on it.
I'll tell one story. One day in the past I finished T2 FM Tough Night (made by another newcomer as you can remember) and it evoked the same feelings as what you described in ...
I actually quite like opening sections. Finding way forward was not easy task (and map was not that helpful), but I liked challenge. On the other hand it was hard to find the main Mcguffin and I didn't like the fact that to finish mission you must trudge through the entire level back.
I can't comment the original release of DF but I played Tough Night which was released along first release of Dark Forest and it was subpar. It is city level with very samey architecture. Very, very samey an...
I think of Short Night's Work as some kind of enhanced "remix" of Augustine's Revenge -also "low-key" city mission but bigger, better, badder. I like this one more, but surely it is not without its drawbacks. Perhaps you may like Nigel's Hidden Treasure more - it was made after AR, and is quite varying as well as Three Crowns. Perhaps to the point when it felt a bit too much varying and exhaustive in my opinion.