It's not really just for the judges. Look at Vampire Survivors, you 1-shot the first bats. or Halls of Torment, you 2-shot the first skeletons. There's a good reason they do it. Your game takes 5-shots for the first enemy.
Viewing post in The Soulstealer jam comments
There are many reasons why I don’t do it like Vampire Survivors.
I don’t spawn as many enemies as vampire survivors, so I have to make them “stick” for a bit longer.
When the wilder dies you possess character of a nearby enemy, if they were too squishy player would just constantly die.
Due to the nature of the “loop” if I made the enemies “die on one hit” from the start, when the loop rests player wouldn’t get any sense of progression compared to the previous one + they would likely get bored