It keeps getting harder and harder, but more in a time-consuming and less quality-of-life kind of way.
It was much more enjoyable when:
No food limit / spoilage
Didn't need extra items to capture NPC
Easier to get money
No communal room slave limit
Was possible to win fights at the start
Mansion upgrades only needed gold
I don't really enjoy the game anymore. Can't earn gold at the beginning and all I can do is hunt / forage for a while to keep my food supply up. Maybe it's because of how I play.