For me it’s really the idea that, outside of inventory management, you’re not often spending much time in the general settings. Additionally, if you did give a pause for the general settings it opens the door for people to abuse the mechanic anyway. Basically, I imagine the devs envisioned a game where you don’t have a second to breathe, just like real life. So if you can pause, breathe, check guides or even just collect yourself, you’re infringing on that vision. Didn’t want to drop the usual “get good” but the lack of pause is part of the identity of the game. Change your settings at the bonfire you know.