Unlike C, Go isn't overloading what is returned, it has an extra param, and the language has been baked to handle doing like initialization and checks in single line if statements. It does force the developer who might actually have a clue what the exception is and how to fix it to handle it, but IMHO this is a good thing. Go forces lots of things like this (not using an import, won't compile; not using a variable, won't compile).

Honestly, compared to the exception hellscapes I have had to deal with in Java and C++ --- it seems like the path of least surprise. Which incidentally has been my favorite things about Go, the low number of surprises.

A lot of using Go in real work has gone against my expectations. There are a lot of things I initially saw as huge warts (lack of exceptions, generics and import versions), but I liked channels enough (Erlang background) to give it a shot. So far, I have been delighted by using it as a stack (build cycle, deploy method, terse C'ish syntax).