Imo doesn't need an easy mode, game isn't hard if you stick to same leveled enemies. It does take a lot of time to get through though.
GOTY 2018 tied with RDR2 for me. Origins was better, mostly because of bayek and the setting.
I'm only into the third chapter or so and playing it on Hard, and honestly the difficulty for the most part is irrelevant. The conquest battle was damn near impossible with my assassin/hunter combo so I had to respec into something with a little more warrior power (and discovered the heal and it became a mandatory thing going forward), but other than that, just about all my deaths are either because I get too casual and try to get through an area too quickly or if I'm screwing around trying to get a mercenary to hunt me and get a second one or run by a fortified area. Well, that, and the damn boar in the first quest of the Daughters of Artemis or whatever - thank goodness there's a cheap way of doing it because it was also damn near impossible.