Thanks for the feedback. Here is some advice if you do pick it up again:
You can save anytime for free at the fireplace in an early unlocked room. There is an audio cue that the room is safe but it seems people are missing it.
Game difficulty is based largely on RNG with loot. Once the player knows they can loot from barrels/crates I find the restorative loot to be on the generous side. Of course you can get bad luck, but that's just what that is; bad luck. You can trade with the merchant to get what you want and sell the crap you have an excess of.
You can farm materials from the animated chairs to improve your weapons/armour with the silent craftsman on the second floor. This is a far more effective way of getting ahead of the game's difficulty curve than just blindly grinding off every enemy (will generally make the game harder).
Thanks for playing.