We’ve turned into a Hive, things are getting serious.

What's the point of playing if you just follow the path without exploring? There's a walkthrough that shows the optimal order to complete things, making it easy and quite logical. The only challenging part is the labyrinth with tons of traps at the end, and the time limit with Kivan isn't great, especially since you encounter him early (if you notice him), but he quickly leaves, and you have to rush through the main storyline. I ended up getting him later to avoid that.

Every half hour, I'd launch a small attack, and the rest of the time, I'd shoot with the sling using right-click.

I once played through the first part as a druid. It was a bit silly. The last time, I played as a skald.

I probably won't play solo again. It seems kind of boring, and overall, fast runs don't seem to have much point, so it's better not to play them.