I still halfway through, but I feel like the map is more compact, which I personnaly don’t mind. I understand why people would consider it a (fully fleshed) expansion though. Just like the first, I still have those “holy shit” moments when discovering a new biome or something of importance. It also took me a long time to get going in the first time, and I appreciate the fact to be far more efficient right from the start. The above water areas are not that bad imo. Oh, and the sound design is still amazing.
The whole metaverse shtick was ridiculous. Nobody asked for it, and yet they spent billions promoting it anyway