This game is much more than you think it is, if you exclude the outstanding community and mods, you might just get into the vanilla experience wich is a bit more salted, but still a deep ocean.

Most people will scream at you to say that the story is long and boring, and obviously they do not see the might and glory of it, it can keep you entertained and gives you a goal and its a road for bosses to be set, they are wrong the real problem with it is that its the main road, and not a path of extra content. The game is often compared to terraria, another very good game if you ask me, and you can understand that it was done better on some points as the story is not present, and even less the focus and lead of the game.

Progression is hard to make when you focus on completing missions and it feels like a side track, going to different planets to get new ores and all components you need.
The planet themselves can host villages and smaller dungeons to loot and learn from, it can lead to your inventory being filled with multiple costumes and furniture that caught your eye.
The inventory has multipe tabs for your blocks, furniture, weapons(and armor) and food.. Thats a lot of tabs to keep track of and storage is way under done, most storage is either big or small but theres no real upgrade, with a ton of items and blocks that clog you inventory, you have to store them and quickly you might loose them in crates and chests.

There is much to improve in the game but it can be fun to explore, and i reccomend that you take a look at the workshop to find quality of life improvements.

There is a lot that has been done right, and a lot that has been done wrong, but it is not lost and you can get a ton of fun if you know what you do.
And my review is quite emty compared to the content it holds.

Starbound II, if it ever becomes a project, it can only work if chucklefish listen to the community.