Everytime I replay the game it's balanced to be harder so it takes a bit extra time to get back to the point I was at previously. I honestly don't see the point. You can just brute force everything. There isn't really any game overs besides that one time I'm aware of. There's even perks designed for losing and still gaining xp. It's NOT a difficult game, yet there is need to balance to make it harder anyway? It's just taking extra time for a time sink. No need for those unless it's a free to play game and you're trying to sell some xp boosts for impatient people.
I was really just playing around with all the nerfs saying I'd play on an easier difficulty. There are a LOT of nerfs if you didn't notice. I'm actually all for the Sofia buff though cause I feel she should be the hardest fight instead of Venefica. I at least think Sofia is supposed to be stronger than her lore wise. Then again, Sofia is still holding back while Venefica is going full power...ish.
And if you're wondering why I replay the game, I actually do test to see how difficult the game is from scratch instead of having a really high level character at all updates from a save file.
Edit: It doesn't seem like I'm the only one that noticed all the energy nerfs either, so get off my back