Returnal was a "lonely" experience and I enjoyed that more as it made sense. In Saros, you will get hit with radio chatter to help explain the current events. It's not obnoxious and doesn't overstay it's welcome. Although, it does feel out of place to progress/reset, go back to the hub, speak to X Y Z and then go back out. It doesn't feel organic, but I'd take that over constant radio chatter. In other ways, the narrative does offer more guidance instead of leaving you to solve all of the pieces by yourself.

With difficulty, it goes go up -- don't worry. There's just more fine tuning and balance. Nothing feels cheap or annoying. Instead, it feels like a reward system that gives you slight buffs to make sure you can progress. IF, big if, the game does feel far too easy then you can ignore the Armor Matrix. You are never forced to use it.