In fairness there are only 4 floors at the moment... :D
But yeah, as the name 'hardstuck' suggests, this is an old school Rogue-like with the brutal difficulty curve and punishing risk/reward mechanics that go with it. Try to embrace the suck!
Getting a blessing on your shield early will help a lot. Also, make use of the other game mechanics. Potions of poison can be thrown at enemies, enchanted monsters will fight others, using an ice enchanted sword on a wet enemy will freeze them (great for L2!) and hitting an enemy standing in water with a lightning enchanted sword will electrify the whole body of water, doing ranged damage.