Difficulty in this game is fairly fickle. It has the potential to be difficult depending on how the RNG works out (or doesn't work out) for you. You can play the same battle over and over, and while reasonable tactics can repeatedly put the odds in your favor, in the end the roll of the dice can make one play-through a cakewalk while the other is a disaster. And this is why we often see conflicting reports on how difficult the same encounter is.
Let's look at an early example using the first orc fight on the beach prior to reaching the gates of the town in Cyseal.
The smart thing to do, in my opinion, is to deal with the Shaman threat first. And if you succeed in CC'ing him or taking him out before he can act, the battle with the remaining orcs and cultist is extremely easy (especially if RNG favors the guards and they start mowing through each target in rapid succession).
However, if RNG doesn't work in your favor and your CC/kill attempts fail, and the Shaman decides to start lobbing fireballs at your party and inflicting burning states, life can becomes a whole lot more difficult. Or maybe he'll just toss a heal instead, allowing your party another chance to execute their plan while relatively unchallenged.
This is an example of what I described above (and which I'm repeating again): the game has the potential to be difficult depending on how the RNG works out (or doesn't work out) for you. In this case, does the roll of the dice allow you to remove the Shaman threat before he decides to cast a fireball? A lot is hinging on "luck" here. And you can play this same battle over and over, and while reasonable tactics can repeatedly put the odds in your favor, in the end the roll of the dice can make one play-through a cakewalk while the other is a disaster. And this is why we often see conflicting reports on how difficult the same encounter is.
Not all encounters are set up this way. A lot of it has to do with map design. I would even argue that some games take it too far in the other direction (Blackguards, for example), where encounter difficulty is built around the idea of the player jumping through specific hoops over the course of a battle - follow the plan the designer wanted you to follow and things are fairly easy, deviate and follow your own plan and things can become a lot harder. I believe there is a better balance to be struck between the two.
