How Hard Is Too Hard?

In his impressions piece of the Catacomb Kids [official site] Early Access, Adam spoke of is average lifespan being measured in minutes. My experience has been the same. The game takes the basics of Spelunky and re-introduces excised elements from the broader roguelike and RPG genres, like inventories, levels and magic, and in adding that complexity, it creates a world that's likely to slice you apart repeatedly within your very first few seconds of life.

I like the game, as did Adam, but I've been struggling to decide whether that's because of or in spite of its immediately tall difficulty curve.