Beaten by an abomination because the game trapped you in a hole? Sounds like you didn't pay attention to your surroundings in terms of terrain or enemies. Yeah, the swamp is brutal for the unaware or unprepared, but if you learn from your mistakes it'll get easy quickly.

Avoid the water and watch your footing. Use poison resistance mead until you get your hands on a root mask from the abominations. You need a bronze axe to chop fine wood for weapons, furniture and boats, and it doubles as a good early weapon against Abominations when paired with a bronze buckler. Fire arrows also work and are safe but slow. Take your time in the swamp slowly, avoid fighting groups unless you can safely pick them off one at a time and know when to run away.