As an aside, but James Intracaso (lead designer) is noodling at a new project called Crows that is VERY much that desperate mercenary style game; where you don't have powers, your most valuable tools are your inventory, and dying is VERY likely.Could it be? Sure, but it is a deliberate choice, and it pretty quickly reinforces the borderline supers style of feel.
It is not a game where you are playing as desperate mercenaries, struggling to make ends meet and a goon with a knife and a lucky shot can take you out - you start by playing as the fantasy equivalent of street-level supers and pretty quickly can hit Avengers-levels of competence.