Thanks for checking out the game!
I agree, the Bloodlust meter is not at all clear enough how it works. It only goes up by 33% every time you release someone (my thinking was that the crowd were just getting impatient, they didn’t know who got released); how much the people hates a person only matters if you choose to behead them. Again though, I agree that isn’t communicated clearly at all.
The game does end if you max out the meter, but it has a little bit of give above the visible maximum because I had people complain they felt like they got sniped for just barely hitting the limit, which felt bad.