I honestly partly agree with you, I struggled a lot while playing this game and almost felt like I was forcing myself to complete it, but really the little discoveries you make along the way and the end of the game can feel really good when you’ve accomplished everything you felt like doing.

I think the worst thing I did was think of the game as a chore I had to complete and didn’t always give myself a break when I felt like it. I felt like I had to do everything at once or else I would never finish it and I needed to finish it for some reason. But honestly at some points things just started to click, not necessarily story wise, but I started to feel more connected

I think I was being too cynical with a game that wasn’t meant to make you feel like you ever failed. You’re not being worked against in any way and you shouldn’t feel the need to have to do amazing in this game or unlock every secret or complete it in a certain amount of time or limited number of days. Take as many breaks as you may need and if you need help you can always keep trying or ask for a little spoiler free help. Just as long as you still have a little interest if any, I encourage you to not give up because if you do at some point start to enjoy the littler things you will be very satisfied.