This game has so much to offer. It is just very difficult to survive as a new player. This is what I would do to make the game more enjoyable to the masses.
-Make food more satiable. Its very hard to find food around the game especially in the beginning. I died many times already and starting to get frustrated.
-Make food more filling
-increase amount of bushes,
-make animals easier to hunt.
-allow the recipes to work even if items are out of order. I have to memorize recipes which is quite annoying.
-provide a recipe list similar to minecraft. figuring out recipes takes the fun out of the game because its dry stuff to deal with.