had this sat in my library along with DST for quite a while before I actually decided to sit down and learn to play properly. none of the mechanics are explained to you, meaning you have to learn everything through trial and error which i didn't really like at first, leading me to give up when i first tried playing. but once you start treating this game as a roguelike where each death is a chance to learn, it does become quite fun.
i love this game's style, both the art and the rather abstract content. the only civilisations are pigmen, there are tentacle biomes and krampus steals from you if you murder too many animals. it stands out from other survival games which try to prioritise realism and that also adds to the challenge, as you have to learn this new universe's rules rather than the ones we already know about ours.
one part of the game which i found a bit annoying was how much exploring you have to do. i often found myself spending the first 20 days just running around exploring the map, but rarely finding the resources i was looking for due to the size. so by the time winter came around i was unprepared and died. i'm not complaining about the size of the map, just wish certain resources had a consistent way of finding them other than just walking until you happen upon them. that is if they even generated in your world, which you don't know for certain until you've explored every inch.
the dying and having to set up repeatedly is starting to tire me now, so i think i'll be putting this on the shelf again for a bit, but would definitely like to try out the 2nd game with some friends.