I really love the difficulty in this game, but I get that that’s a matter of taste. Hollow Knight would definitely benefit from an “assist mode” like Celeste, or a “god mode” like Hades. I think the devs intended for the badges to be a way for players to fine-tune their difficulty and playstyle (kind of like how in Dark Souls, pyromancy is easy mode, at least early on). But often the best badges are hidden behind challenges, and even the best badges do not dramatically reduce the difficulty. So I totally empathize with your perspective.