I have been trying out the game and found the option to play "Trial of Iron" very intresting, but unfortunally it's unplayable. Because one have no clue at all how hard an encounter might be. So what is needed is a way to see the difficulty of the encounter, like if it's impossible, hard, normal or easy. Like the bear cave in the erly game, how should I know if i can fight bears or not.. well I could not..

So some general hints about the difficulty of an encounter would be much apprichiated at least when playing "Trial of Iron".

Just like every Dead is Dead challenge, Trial of Iron is best attempted as an experienced player who finished the game before and is familiar with most encounters. This is only my opinion, but using it on your first try is just asking for a wasted playthrough. I don't know how anyone can possibly succeed without any prior experience with the game, with or without difficulty tips.

Same exact thing happened to me too, playing hard and ironman.

However, I don't complain about it personally, as long as there is a logic to the game. And it's logical that bears are much more powerful than the few bandits and wolves you encounter until then.

 

Also, the "beauty" of trial or iron, although I failed at my first playthroughs on hard, is that you don't know what will happen and how you should prepare, so you should always prepare for the worst..