Hey, thanks for playing and writing this. Glad you seemed to have a good time :)
Yes you are probably right about making the gatekeeping a bit more clear. Actually just a week ago I removed it all so you could (almost) go wherever you wanted, but we changed it back for this release. Not sure what the best approach is, but maybe some short "cutscene" where lights switches on in the houses you couldn't go into before is a solution. Like with the roach sidequest.
Thanks again for taking your time!