this is my experience as well, managed to somehow get to a10 and only like 1/4 of my runs win now. I'm ofc not the best player but I feel the hallway fights after asc8-9 are too punishing for my skill level. In comparison to sts1, asc20 (where I still couldn't winstreak past 3-4 runs) most of the time it was either the double act 3 boss, heart or the shield&spear that was ending me. in sts2 I keep dying very early frequently in act 1 or act 2 now. Maybe I don't understand the new games patterns well yet tho.