there are more ways to have fun and interesting environments than "a loosely connected series of nearly impossible challenges"

the party arrived on a strange island today and had 4 encounters

one we barely survived, the second we had to run away from after the first round of combat, the third we again had to run away from immediately and

get help to cure a disease that was going to kill one of the party in like 2 hours or less without the cure

and then the last one we got a TPK

i still had fun, but like......

despite the encounters, not because of them

which is not the way i like my games :\