Aside from rendering only chunks, the game is also based on a "falling sand" mechanic concept. Only difference is some entities have actual physics.
For air pressure / wind etc. you'd need to simulate physics for each pixel. That would be extremely heavy on resources and the game is already CPU heavy as it is.
EDIT: they could also do something similar to Algodoo - simulating groups of particles. That's still super difficult and possibly not in game spirit, though.
I feel the exact same. It's a miracle if I put 10 hours into a new game these days; I'm at 250 and climbing on Noita.
If you find yourself addicted to disgustingly punishing open ended roguelikes, I might also suggest POWDER. It's more of a classic style roguelike (top down turnbased) but it has an incredible amount of variation and ridiculous ways to die. It's also free and open source. http://www.zincland.com/powder/
Let me recommend an app called Process Hacker, which will replace your Task Manager with a beefier version. I used it to find and disable useless processes running in the background that were soaking up my CPU cycles; then I used it to permanently set Noita.exe to run in High Priority.
That said, my laptop is on the low end of minimum spec requirements, and I only play vanilla. Occasionally, the audio will lag or drop, which is my cue to save the game and quit for awhile before it crashes.
Some interesting things to note:
Very much looking forward to this.
Flamethrower is just an example, at that point unmodified bubble spark had basically the same range: pitiful and worthless. Normally, these projectiles travel twice as far.
Also thanks ezgif.com for making my life easier. Just thought I'd mention it.