This game promised adventure when it was first announced, adventure with a pulp-ish sensibility. During the first few hours, you get a bit of that feeling. You can notice that from a tech point of view something isn't right but that isn't a big issue actually, you get biome variety, most planets are wretched, lack life forms, and are very raw. But that's what's made it interesting back then in the first build of the game. Even with this, the game didn't know how to manage that exploring will you felt at the beginning.
As time went through the game received a bunch of updates that turned the game into something more accommodating, in which every planet is "special", has lots of life forms, varied and rich flora, and weird fauna. The "eureka" moment felt when finding a lively spot on a planet, or even an entire planet full of life was stripped away.
Also, the game focused on a philosophy taken from Minecraft, in which everything has its use. But it did it in an unimaginative way, with an overdesigned system that led to a pseudoscientific approach to investigation that made you care less for what was around you, and industrial crafting that didn't let much to the imagination.