Removing the fog of war from IE maps is part of the fun!
I admit I worry about how the game will turn out too, but I like to remain optimistic. I honestly think everything we've seen of PoE from the updates looks great so far. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a game with a decent length that is fun to play at least, and I do think Obsidian has enough experience under their belt to deliver that. And yeah, non-linearity is a must, but I think with all the planned wilderness areas it's going to be fine.
I haven't played Shadowrun Returns and Broken Age so I can't comment on those, but I did play one kickstarted game named Expeditions: Conquistador, that had a small budget in comparison ($77,247) and I thought it was pretty good.