Cambrey: Sorry about the late answer.

The crafting system in A Tale in he Desert is pretty archaic yet complex enough to be interesting. Visually speaking, the game is not very engaging and nothing really looks outstanding. You perform actions by right clicking and using contextual menus and sub-menus. Navigating through all those menus can be overwhelming and requires a lot of patience, so definitely not a game for you if you prefer a fast-paced game.

Your character has attributes (str, dex, sta, etc) that help you craft more efficiently, depending on your attribute level and what you craft. You raise your attributes by completing tasks (which appear in your journal). You start out by collecting sand, grass, wood, thorns, slates etc... Use the crafting stations, that are spread out all around, to meet your goals. The more tasks you complete, the more talent points you earn. Spend those points to learn a specialization. And that's where things get serious.

Among those specializations you have the usual that you find in a lot of games, such as cook, smith, carpenter etc but also things like naturalist, architect, priest, vintner (wine fermenting) and more.
You can also learn technologies by joining universities. There are 6 universities where you can learn glassblowing, crystal acoustics, goldwork, taxidermy, botany, perfuming, beekeeping and the list goes on.