Raven is meant to feel fresh yet familiar. Someone with coding experience should be able to hop on and get going quickly. With time they might find it easier and more fun than other languages, but they’re not bending their mind around a bunch of new concepts to get there.
Syntax is a crucial part of that second goal – familiarity – because it makes the first impression on users.1 Luckily this is one area where languages have really converged, so there’s neither much scope nor need to innovate.