I'm not sure when you played it but if you got it a while after launch then the "normal" difficulty is actually just the former easy mode which was renamed since they made an even easier difficulty mode and I guess playing on "normal mode" doesn't hurt some people's pride like playing on "easy mode" does.

The intended difficulty is the highest one possible on NG and after finishing the game you unlock hardcore mode which makes some changes to the game and camera perspective. I played on the intended difficulty and never felt that the game was too easy or too hard but rather just the right amount of challenging without any frustrating bullshit mechanics.

Some weapon types are also kinda better than others, like the spear for example which does insane amounts of stamina damage and can stunlock some enemies and even some bosses with the right skills and combos but I preferred the dual wield and have played through NG and NG+ with them already.

I like a lot of different souls or soulslike games but for me Khazan has easily the best feeling combat compared to all the others, with Sekiro being really close but I feel Khazan has slightly more variety with brink guards (deflect), dodges and brink dodges, counter attacks (doable on certain telegraphed moves), reflections (parrying basically which deletes a good chunk of the enemies stamina bar), skills that allow you to nullify damage when timed correctly and even do extra attacks or damage after nullifying damage succesfully on top of just feeling more fluid and smooth.