Hey RegularAI! I really appreciate feedback to this extent! I agree that many of the design choices stack up into an overall unpleasant experience. At least I can definitely see how it feels like that at first. I believe that the game could easily become a lot more accessible and fair with just some small tweaks here and there and that way it could also lure a lot more players who currently hesitate buying this because of the difficulty.
However,
The genuine hopelessness and unfair world are the key pillars of the atmosphere in my opinion. I don't think the experience would be even close to the same if you had things like free saves and such in the early parts of the game. I could of course give more difficulty levels, but with this harsh game, people would 99% of the time take that easy way if I gave them the option for it.
After the first impressions, the game does get more fair though. The 2/3rds of the game actually gives you more room for error, save items and even one free permanent save spot. First impressions last after all and you got that suspicion of things going south for the rest of the game, so no need to torment the players that much after they've invested hours into the game. Of course in your case first impressions can also drive away people, but it is the price I'm willing to pay.
Having said all that, my game developing has been very feedback oriented since the start of this project and I'm still tweaking and balancing things constantly according to what people say. I am actually toning down some annoyances in the next update. This whole reply might come off as a bullheaded dev sticking to his poor artistic vision, but I just wanted to throw my thoughts out there if it at least helps you see where I'm coming from.