I tried Hardcore so many times and the  maximum I ever got to was getting killed right after gaining hell rat form, today I tried the infinite lives mode for exploration reasons, and found enemies i have never seen before. Everything two-shots me, and they show up in so many numbers that even in this mode I was not able to have meaningful progess, because all I can do is attack one time from the spawn, get killed and attack one time again... I like the game until minotaur, but afterwards I have the feeling that everything can two-shot me if it sees me first, and I have no chance to avoid that, since I see no real goal ahead, is there something after the grim-reaper-like creature?

There's several more monsters after that (I think 3), as well as two boss encounters after those.

Omg, I had a really good run today and met the boss in 1up mode :D toughness and resistance really are super powerfull

Finally, I'm done, so good that the boss does not regain health :D