Yep - and I recall arguing at the time with one of the Nova people sent to Reddit to try and sell us on the idea that everything was just fine, and nothing would change, and hey, look over there, a huge distracting thing...
It was bullshit then, and so it's proved. What a waste of a truly exceptional launcher.
Agreed, that's exactly what I do too - I use icon swipe all the time though, so I'm confused why you don't have it.
Admittedly, I swipe folder icons rather than individual apps, but it definitely works, here's a quick video (link lives for 2 days): https://streamable.com/liybvg
EDIT - looking again, I can't set swipes on individual app icons either, just the folder icons. Weird, never noticed that before!
I use Total Launcher - it has up and down swipe gestures but also left and right. It's a bit of a learning curve, much less intuitive than Nova was at its peak, but very customisable.
Sounds like a sticky situation.