I’m trying to be helpful, and not trying to change your vision. I love all the Miyazaki games and they’re a big influence on my game designs as well.
I'd love to hear out the design philosophy you're using here. What tells players that each battle is a puzzle you're suppose to take in a specific order? If you challenge one person and die, then you try another one, until you figure out the one you are suppose to beat and then repeat this again to find out who the next person you are suppose to defeat?
Because you brought up the Asylum demon, before you get to this enemy, players are able to try out the game and play test controls and figure out how to play the game with a few enemies before they have to engage with this larger foe. Sekiro is very similar, especially since it is a game that came out 8 years after Dark souls and they've been able to refine and create a specific experience since they had released so many games in between. It's all about the experience you are creating to the player. In those games if I try hard enough I can beat the Asylum demon with a broken sword, in your game there's no way I can beat a level 30 with my level 6 frog.