Yeah, the game can be a bit brutal until you start to figure it out, both in terms of difficulty and systems to learn. There's two things I'd recommend:Question: does the game include a tutorial? and if not is there a tutorial online i can look at? cause this game looks complicated AF and that kinda intimidates me.
First, for your first couple play throughs, use at least medium game length. The short games are way too short to really learn how the game systems work, and they're just generally harder IMO. But I'd avoid the freeplay mode, since you won't be able to unlock anything.
And then second, understand that starting over and playing again is part of the game. You're probably going to lose a bunch of times. And even if you win, you'll want to start over anyways to unlock stuff. It's got that roguelite element where each run you can unlock new stuff for the next game.
And then feel free to ask questions. I think there's like 8 pages of me asking how mechanics work or for strategy advice before I figured out how to win lol