No matter how many times i restart or how much more experience i gain in between, it's the first swamp run that tends to stand out to me. Im almost always in troll armor at that point (never bother with bronze armor honestly), and since it's the first time there i don't have the terrain altered to make things easier. My goal is normally just to grab a few seeds and gtfo so i can start making better foods before i hit the swamp properly. There's a weird combination of sneaking around, frantically fleeing, or getting a chip on your shoulder because you know you can parry and destroy a solo non-starred draugr (before you return to frantic fleeing because you realize he wasnt alone and that archer over there is 2 star). All punctuated with the occasional "nope, nope sooooo much nope" moments when something like an abomination pops out of the ground in the direction you were first planning to go.

It's always hectic, but always in a different way each time you reach that point in a new character.