Too easy?

I am half-way through Normal, really! But i just make those comparisons... I might be mistaken, but Sotn was more punishing, as a game.

Yeah I agree, my first playthrough was on hard (using the secret code) and while the game was somewhat challeging at the beginning, halfway through I was already feeling it to be way too easy. Hard should be accessible without a secret code right from the start IMO, and we probably need a "Very Hard" mode as well. Nightmare could be a New Game+ mode only and as such get a buff, so to be a challenge even for endgame builds.

I think it depends on how you approach the game. On my first playthrough I didn't farm enemies for drops, go out of my way to complete quests, or otherwise take time off from exploring to power myself up. And I found Ritual of the Night to be the hardest IGAvania. I was just talking to a friend who is finding the same thing.

Yeah of course i am enjoying it, the game is great and very well fleshed out/designed! No wonder it is "overwhelmingly positive" ranked, in Steam Store! Variety and many choices are great to both have and choose from.

Some people nag though and i don't like their attitude/approach; demanding things like "nerf that shard" etc. I like "overpowered" Miriam. She is the boss! You can always choose to limit yourself, like "don't use X shard" or something like that, no need to "fix" what isn't "broken"... Powerhouse player is a great thing.

Some enemy designs seem to be a bit lame, though (like those puppy), but their functionality is very well done (they are able, as far as non-boss enemies go and their special abilities, like Wolfman block, are very interesting and innovative). Game reeks of awesomeness!

Igavania is not a game that focus on difficulty. I think this game is harder than aos and ooe and I am a bit disappointed with that. Igavania should remain as Igavania.

Im on normal and damn its too easy! the first boss was easy, only zangetsu kill me a couple of times but dont know if my save have an issue but Item/shard drop rates its damn high, mods give the shard so easy!! im playing on normal so dont know if its working like should be, but im getting the shards so easy, like some days ago kill 3 differents mobs in one room (lili, a face dog and a morte) everyone give the shard at the same time, im on Xbox but this is getting boring, I'm just lvl 22/24 and valac, bathin and the train was so easy, I mean every fight took just like a minute or less and there's no strategy, just used my shards and keep attacking with my sword.. But damn it's so boring, guess gonna start again on hard mode but i stopped playing waiting a update, maybe therers some fix under hood

It's possible people just improved that much in, what, 20yrs? Of course there are many of us that would find it pretty easy, now. Hard mode definitely seems more normal, imo.

I did find the game pretty easy overall. I find it difficult to say if it is because I'm experienced in RPG and Metroidvania games overall, and because I ended up grinding to power up shards, get items, and get more and more skill shards (with the side effect of leveling up very high) Or if its because the game overall was designed to be easy.

Based on what I've heard of SOTN and other Igavania games, it sounds like they're designed to be easy.

I did start a fresh new playthrough on Hard Mode, it is a little more challenging that way, actually have died more. Enemies behaving faster and doing more damage definitely bring a new level of tension to it. have been enjoying it and it will probably become easier since I'll end up grinding again.

When I unlock Nightmare Mode I plan on doing a NG+ run of it.

That's because he's though, lol.