Whats up with the difficulty? even playing as the tanky knight i get 2-shot by octopunks and those squiggly looking guys in the starting forest!?
I have recently lessend the difficulty within the starting area (which you can read in the Dev logs for changes I have made!)
However, the game itself is intended to be difficult. They are NPC's however that suggest that within the overworld (The area you are encountering said enemies!) that you are able to avoid conflict by simply running away. Some enemies will be tougher then your current prowess, so some times the best option is to flee!