I guess people are dumb cause this wasn't very hard, beat both modes first try. Prioritize building stuff in the middle so it takes longer to get swallowed by darkness. I discovered the potion factory really late but it turned a guaranteed victory into a much faster guaranteed victory.
Game started super easy, gave it a 1. Then it got rather hard, realized it wasn't pathetically easy, gave it a 3. Then it got really hard for like two levels, gave it a 4. Then it got stupid easy again, stayed a 4. Fun game though!