“Difficult” is the critical consensus of what Soulslikes are about, but it’s not necessarily what the devs are thinking. If you let go the idea of having “goals” for a bit - well now it’s not “difficult” because there isn’t anything to accomplish. Sure, it’s still a game where you die all the time, but according to Miyazaki that’s 1. slapstick comedy and 2. masochism[0], not a punishment.

That’s also why there isn’t an easy mode, but if you want to make progress there’s other “modeless” ways to get stronger.

[0] Japanese media has a lot of running jokes about BDSM fetishes, which they think are personality types