The question of difficulty came to mind while playing Metaphor. It was pretty challenging early on when resources were very limited and I was also learning the gameplay systems, but I’m starting to feel powerful now mid-game (while still being challenged a bit). That’s where I like to end up, typically. It has a nice ludonarrative feel for the games that typically have you killing god.
What do you like?
mega man battle network (ds remake) does it proper by slowly introducing stronger enemies n chips to the players when progressing the story. also your health and attack goes up gradually as you find powerups. No exp bar needed, difficulty is tied to the story and area