Excellent adventure for new players. We didn't find the encounters to be overwhelming, but I was a bit heavy-handed as DM with the hints that the players should approach some of the situations tactically. I think the adventure lends itself well to this kind of play: being straightforward enough to give some hints while allowing the players to make significant risk-reward choices. My party did not explore every single room of the dungeon. Once they defeated the boss they high-tailed it out of there with several enemies chasing them, making for significant drama. But certainly afterwards the party was wondering what was in those other rooms they didn't explore!

"Leave them wanting more" is one of the pieces of DM advice it's taken me a while to appreciate. This adventure has enough in it that the players can skip a few parts, feel accomplished, but still wonder what was in the parts they missed.