Beat the game on Hardcore with no guide last night, so maybe I can give some advice.
The first confrontation where you need to run past the cyborg really shows how shit this game really is.
Then you try to interact with the item but the cyborg hits almost as fast as you can equip and use it so you die again.
This is a puzzle shooter if you look past the fan service elements. If you find yourself dying a lot, you're probably approaching the puzzle wrong like here.
Use a landmine to deal with the cyborg in the cage. If you don't have one, look in a different room past the gated bridge. The mutants move slow enough you can literally walk away from them no problem.
The new face is ugly as fuck and they removed the design appeal of Haydee.
The model hasn't been improved anything significantly either (it's 50% the same).
This is personal preference, so different strokes, I guess. I personally find her miles more attractive than the bajillion Daz3D models on this site. Those... 'things' are more terrifying than the Five Nights at Freddy's monsters.
Interactive game objects don't stand out so it's hard to know what to do i certain situations.
Which items can be used is hard to see so you die.
I never really had this issue, so I don't know what to say. The only things I had to really look for were the secrets. Everything else was pretty much in plain view for me. Just a head's up, the secret buttons are split between Softcore mode and Hardcore mode. You need to beat both to get that achievement. There's also 2 secret notes you can only get after you trigger the final countdown.
You can get stuck by being blocked by the cyborg and die.
Movement is love. Movement is life. Hold shift to run, and circle strafe. Never stand still in a confrontation. When you run, you move slightly faster than the cyborgs.
The game doesn't teach you how to use items so you die again.
Some of the controls can't even be configured like the toggle crouching.
This I can agree with. They need to be more clear on how to use tool bar items. The ways I know how:
1) hotkey from the toolbelt. Press 1, 2, 3, or 4 to use
2) double click in the inventory screen when the target is highlighted