I bought this game recently after seeing some minecraft youtubers playing it (you guys really need to nurture this, these guys reach a lot of people).
Generally I like it. It looks really nice, some of the game mechanics are really cool and the basic survival game is pretty interesting for the first few hours or so of game play.
Here comes the but...
Starting the game...
I do feel like the game is hard to get into for normal gamers. I'm used to playing a lot of modded minecraft including some particularly grindy progression based/realistic mods, so this doesn't phase me one bit, but I think it's a narrow segment of the population to base a product around. Don't get me wrong - your customization settings for world generation are great, super great, but I feel like progression in the game is very harrowing for people because collecting metal resources takes probably more effort than the average person will put into it and there is a lot of content gated behind it (and presumably even more in the future).
Basically I feel like this is a fantasy game, so I don't feel the need to introduce too many realistic systems or ancient mining techniques, but I think at the very least you need some options on the ore generation / distribution algorithm. I really feel like you need an entry point were people can just log into the game and start whacking away at the earth and finding ores without having to craft a prospectors pick or learn how to use it, or even notice that the different rocks have different types of minerals in them, etc. Like I said, I'm used to difficult minecraft mod packs, so for me to put in the effort to figure out how to do this wasn't a big deal, but I don't think the average gamer will put that much effort into it (if they even stick around past the gathering 40 copper nuggets phase).
Mid-game? End game? Is there one?
I dunno about this. I mean, is this a survival game? If so, then once you secure food that's it, right? Well, obviously there are things to do... but other than for the sake of doing them, then why? This isn't necessarily bad, but I guess what I am saying is that I'm not sure what I am supposed to do. Vanilla minecraft is kind of the same way... sorta, but there is content gated behind progression (the nether, fortresses, strongholds, the end, end cities). So, I think that this needs to get sorted out eventually and then probably built upon from there. My own personal view would be to go in a more steam punk direction with the ancient ruins and such. It would be incredibly cool to be searching for ancient ruined cities underground and then looting them for items and components that you can use to craft technology from.
Anyway, I like this game. I like how often you do releases. I think it has good bones and could potentially rival the other voxel based mining game that makes a billion dollars a year and do it in a way that is unique and interesting, but sometimes it pays to look at what other people do right and I feel like making the game more accessible to kids and normies would go a long way.