Yeah I knowThe original leak if I remember right talked about the devs wanting survival mechanics and more exploration. I doubt a fox telling you where to go would have worked in that version but who knows.
The real reason no one warned you was because none of us played it. After a big deal was made of the reveal the game kind of faded into nothingness. I totally forgot about it until a streamer I watched played it a month or so ago.
The fox definitely seems like it was planned from the start, but it just wasn't implemented very well gameplay wise.
So many early PS4 announcements faded into obscurity/didn't release. Freaken heck, one of those games is even mine.