I have about 12 hours on a normal save and have never done an expedition before the current one. I just finished it (took about 12 hours) and here are some takeaways.

The amount of free stuff chucked at you throughout is mind boggling, from an amazing starship to free tech to a free freighter. I didn’t even know solar sails and freighters were a thing before the expedition.

Staying alive isn’t hard. I have been shocked at the number of complaints about permadeath. I went into this knowing sodium, oxygen, and ion batteries are key mats, and to be wary of overusing the jetpack. I never came close to dying beyond the one required time. Even when doing the whispering eggs, which I’d never seen before, and sentinel combat.

I learned more about the game by doing the expedition than playing my normal save.

Overall, it was a fun, educational, and not frustrating experience for a new player that knows little about the game. Again, I’m surprised to see so much backlash. I feel like there are more training wheels on this expedition than in the normal game.