Gear gates the yard
The yard does not scale by time alone. It scales by what you can kill. Missing a tier of gear makes whole zones lethal.
Read the gap
If a bug one-shots you, stop. Go craft the resist set and the right weapon, then return with an answer.
Boss order
Fight bosses in the order they unlock gear. Skipping ahead wastes deaths and leaves you stuck on the next wall.
Come back better
Each death teaches the missing tool. Note it, craft it, and the same bug becomes routine on the next attempt.
Pacing over pride
Retreat is not failure. A planned return with better gear beats a heroic wipe that costs your whole inventory.
How the cycles stack
The first clear is the baseline. Each New Game+ cycle (up to NG+4) raises enemy health and damage and adds new mutations to chase, so the same route gets harder every loop. Mitey and Woah modes are separate toggles: Mitey shrinks you for a harder run, Woah buffs enemies. Pick one axis to push at a time — stacking all of them at once is how players stall.
When to step up
Clear the current cycle clean before adding the next. The reward for pushing early is a faster unlock; the risk is a run that ends before the good loot. If a biome is melting you, drop back a cycle and finish the mutations you skipped.