Larian games always have seriously flawed content after the first act due to very little testing of it compared to the EA. So yeah, probably no big upside to letting reviewers see it ahead of time, if they know people will already buy.
Given how they let journalists have keys only a few days ago, not like they would've made it past Act I.
By the sound of the article, the fact they got keys on Sunday actually doesn't matter, since they have no means of getting the final game. They'll only be able to download it on Thursday, same time as everyone else. That's why they say they'll have at best an in-progress review on Friday morning (after evening/night of playing).
That's not how I understood the article.
I understood it as the review embargo, as in the earliest date you can release your review, conicides with the public release.
Actual journalists could've downloaded the game on sunday, but they couldn't preload it, and therefore were stuck with a 10 hour download or whatever their internet situation is.
One of the YouTube channels that is posted here, Wolf-something, has said he plays 10 hours per day of the full game, therefore he does have it.