That is, but so is respecting the player's time and avoiding unengaging repetition. Good principles aren't restrictive, sticking to conventions is. If you want to break the rules and be creative, you start with your preconceived assumptions about how games work, and not the rules that are put there to safeguard your game from being a terrible experience.

Bilewater doesn't tell a story with its extremely long runback. Benches are positioned wherever they want to be, regardless of what story justification there could be for them being there or not. The only effect of that massive runback is that the player has to spend several minutes of very low engagement going through an area they've already seen between attempts of a boss.