You have been lifted up, Longtime Anon.
Done both; each has it's advantages. This is like playing the game on Legendary difficulty however. No weapons other than cunning, little to no resources, instead of starting weak and gaining power, weapons, and resources…we started light and slowly over time lost what little we had to begin with, while the mission got bigger and harder and more important while we got more exhausted, but tougher.
I'm glad I'm playing it this way, but not sure how I would've answered back then knowing what I do now. Crawling through miles of broken glass without help is a hard choice, but once you're in it deep, it's always just passed the point of no return, so you keep going. Perhaps my there self knew this and arranged the slow reveal to my here self.