I actually made the game quite a bit harder since DD16, so I'd say you got better at it! That could be a sign that the first boss did its job of forcing the player to learn the importance of blocking early on. It's been really hard to get people to hit the block button, so now I'm glad that's working out.
The 2.5d look is definitely new, and if people like it, I'll definitely keep it. Every decent Roguelite I can think of is purely 2d pixel art, so hopefully it will help make my game look unique.
Thanks for the feedback