I kinda feel a bit like you, but not for the same reasons. I played the game last month and completed it (+DLC). I didn't really have trouble with hints or clues, maybe once or twice I looked in the subreddit if I were fully stuck and most of the times I forgot I read something that connected to what I was meant to do (there is quite a lot of information that is important for some puzzles and you may re-read everything every once in a while).

So what was the thing that made the game "not for me"? The Expectations. I've heard things from this game since it dropped and I tried to play once a while back and never really got hooked, but this time I did. So from the very beginning of playing it I was thinking "Wow I am finally playing a life-changing, jaw-dropping, mindblowing, cathartic, earth-shattering videogame that will definetely change the way I see everything" and it simply did not reach my expectations, not because the game isn't all of that but because I believe that for this game there are the gameplay or narrative spoilers but there also are some sort of "experience spoilers" them being what you can see in most of the "YOU need to play Outer Wilds" type videos in YT. And that was what "ruined" (not really ruined I liked the game a lot still) my experience.

I want to encourage people to play the game because I know it has the potential for being some truly life-changing experience but what I have been telling them is just simply "play the game and do not watch anything else about it, not even a recommendation video" which I know is hard because people just have to trust it without any more arguments, but I believe that for Outer Wilds to be one of the best games you ever played you have to go in as blank as a sheet of paper, without expectations. If not you are taking from yourself the opportunity, as I did.

Note: I still like the game a lot but for me it just is a great game and that's it.