I am stupid, so I will try to complete the first floor on medium difficulty without first completing it on easy difficulty.
After many deaths, I lucked out in the first room and managed to circle-strafe survive in that room which almost only had the triple-laser horrors. I then began experimenting using the pistol with which chemicals would deal good damage against them, and came to the conclusion that fire seemed very strong against them.
I have found out that you can cheese-clear some of the obstacles in a room before entering it. This is a double-edge sword, since those obstacles can also be used for cover, but being able to dash away from exploding enemies and circle-strafing might be more critical to survival than using cover.
Managed to clear a second room in that same run. However, it almost went completely wrong due to running into a box while trying to circle-strafe which was very difficult to see. I failed to experiment against the surviving enemies (their own friendly fire killed a lot of them) to see which mixes were good against what.
Experimented on what can clear boxes like that. Apparently (and logically), fire is really strong against wooden boxes.
Cheesing rooms by first clearing explosive barrels feels very helpful to survival.
Using "alchemical mixing time" for slowing time and getting an overview of what is going on before you explode before being able to react is very helpful, even when it does not feel like that is the intended purpose of the time slowdown.
Died on the third room in that run.
Some of those boxes are really durable, I used 4 shots of 5physical+45fire damage while cheesing the obstacles of a room.
Dying a couple more times.
Found out that enemies can be frozen. Also, freeze seems somewhat effective against the explosive enemies, though not necessarily one-shot territory. Are there two different exploding enemies, a gas variant and a blast variant?
Is right-click ever used for anything?
Having an exploding enemy spawn right next to you when you enter the room does not seem fair. At least you can slow down time and dash, but dashing can bring you near enemies (such as exploding enemies), especially with limited view and the darkness of the rooms.
Acid appears very effective against the small single-laser bugs.
I went into a very small room. It spawned 3 exploding gas enemies and a small single-laser bug. I am not convinced that it would be possible for anyone to clear that room without dying no matter how good they are. I am therefore not convinced the author actually played the game on medium difficulty. Can you freeze the enemies or something?
Author, please upload a video of you completing a full floor at medium difficulty. I am probably being overly skeptical.