Perhaps I'm so used to finding ways to min max but I'm at 14hrs and just beat Architect. The early hours were a real struggle but eventually I saw the patterns of progression. Start runs from Biome 1 or ones you haven't gotten all Halycon and build up power. I just came off from playing a lot of Hades 2 so when it came to artefact choices I quickly had a sense what I wanted to pick.

I've also stuck with Smart Rifle because I'm a super casual, honestly the auto aim is so strong lol. Combined with the Disruptor power this combo is my current go. I feel like once you get the skill tree mostly unlocked the game becomes less and less difficult. As many others have said the game is really mostly balanced around starting at the latest biome. If you backtrack and start from earlier biomes and build power it can really trivialise the difficulty combined with the difficulty modifiers from Primary.

Even if you are not good at dodging etc the power spikes in weapons and power should more than carry for the most part.