Is the game significantly easier now than at release?

I remember reading reviews at the time saying that the game was quite hard and at least comparable to other soulslikes. I've finally got around to playing it and I'm at the Forsaken Fen area. Still fairly early in the game but so far I haven't really come close to dying.

Seems like a stark contrast to other soulslikes I've played where you're often forced to die early to learn about the respawn mechanic.

So I'm wondering does it get significantly harder later or have they nerfed the difficulty too much?