Igor It's changed a couple of times since the original one, right? I seem to remember that they made it darker, then made it a bit lighter, but the original was the lightest. The hidden name badges thing is a recent change (I think). I don't remember that in the first iteration. I understand why they do it, given the darkness of the map, but I struggle with it. I never really loved Castleween, but do remember enjoying the first iteration a lot more than the current one. But, it's currently sitting in the middle of the poll, so I'm in a minority here.
Would've been interesting if we'd had a poll for the earlier version, to see if the popularity has risen or dropped due to the changes. I suspect the devs have access to all of this information already though, given they know what we're voting for during our play sessions. I'd love to see that data!