Insomniac seems to have something of a failure of nerves. For instance, the controversy about the Cole redesign in Infamous 2? The entire thing started because they arbitrarily changed the character to make him look "cool" in the way that was at that time trendy: a Nathan Drake clone. 30 year old youthful faced male with fop of brown hair, a smirk, and a half tuck shirt. People got angry at it not because they evolved Cole's look, but because they shamelessly warped the character to pander to a perceived trend.
Which is why all the defense forcing of Insomniac when people complained missed the point entirely.
The business with Overstrike's art style is just a more spectacular example of what's kind of wrong with them.
It's great that they do listen to players in some ways, such as the changes they made to A Crack in Time. By the same token the seem to lack the ability to stick to a vision.