Any more on-way gates? I am specifically wondering about Sanctuary since Cleve hinted you need something from there to wield a powerful weapon later, but not sure if it's only available there.
If the prison is all I will 100% make my real start there so I don't miss anything.
All but Gardens/Wilderness have unique areas. Imprisoned has Prison under armory, Sanctuary has, well, Sanctuary under a house in Crowl (the ladder is descended from within, no way from the outside otherwise), and Eerie Waste is a separate plane with one-way teleport to Crowl (no content there save for random encounters and that corpse with Skull of Hathor Sogg). Shrine has the hidden part of the shrine, ofc.
And a second question: Does the difficulty setting work correctly? I am not having any problems on Advanced (middle difficulty of 5) and actually seem to have an easier time than many others, judging from reports and let's plays.
Then again, I did pay attention during char creation and I am quite experienced in turn-based combat.
Randomness trumps settings. That said, on average you'll face more enemies per encounter on superhero than on novice. Probably.