[Evia]

You basically just explained why this game is so great in your rant about it.
There is a certain thrill to the game when everything is "risky" with a chance to either lose hours or days of progress for making a mistake.

This experience is enhanced even more when you look at the direction that most video games went in order to "mitigate" this feature as if it were a fault that needed fixing. That's probably why most of us still play after all these years. Very few games are like it.

I think the reason why games like Elden Ring are so successful is because they brought back this feature. I get it, it's not for everyone. It's slightly masochistic for sure...but it makes "victory " so much sweeter.