This has been in development for a long time and had the potential to be a really good survival game. Sadly, however, the developers slapped 1.0 on it and then abandoned it while it's still severely incomplete and is littered with bugs.
Do not buy this in its current state, and don't reward developers for abandoning games mid-development
I really like those sandbox/open world survival games - i tried No Man's Sky, Empyrion, Space Engineers, Osiris and Planet Nomads - just to name those, which I played for a longer time. All of those get actively developed by their makers, but each of them has another focus, goals and play mechanics, but development is competitive and the developers borrow ideas from each other.
Planet Nomads seems to be one of the youngest and is still more about building and creation than destructing and fighting. Surviving is hard enough without defeating aliens and running around killing any creatures you find. If you are the kind of gamer expecting this, take one of the other games mentioned above. As most games you will find more destructive than creative elements/goals in most of them. You may also miss multiuser play in Planet Nomads and there seem to be no plans to develop that- maybe gamers interested mainly in exploration or building don't miss such primacy competitive features.
"Living" as a Planet Nomad can be hard - before patch 0.8.4 it was much harder since you couldn't build flying vehicles and it took some time to finish a safe base before dying of thurst, hunger, rough climate changes or aggressive animals you can't defeat.
YOU DON'T GET ANY POWERFUL WEAPON IN THAT GAME TODAY - SO JUST DON'T FIGHT !
Fortunately most animals are very territorial - just avoid to get to near to them and you will have a better chance to survive and stay half of your playing time in the stasis chamber. Again- if you are the competive fighter type of gamer, take another game.
So Planet Nomads is more like the early Space Engineers and now has also conveyors and mining machines to make it easier to build large, mobile bases or vehicles. Currently you can't leave the planet - but the planet has a little more to explore than No Man's Sky (which got much better since sume large updates) or Empyrion - Osiris may have much potential, but currently it is just a demo that becomes boring after a few hours due to missing raw materials (There are many blueprints, but you can't build most of them).
So currently the adventure/story elements in Planet Nomads are about excavating remainings of crashed ships and a mysterious alien civilisation (similar than current No Man's sky), but with Space-Engineering like building possibilities (and much more adventurous than Empyrion).
So finally - for me as a building/exploration/adventure seeking gamer Planet Nomads offers the best mix. I hope we will get spaceships and other planets some day and don't put to much fighting / competition into that currently fair enough game. At least such features should be optional to avoid destructing that unique game with that omnipotent destructive goals of most other games.
When you first state the game you are stuck in your pod and stranded on a planet. At first I was "Wow this is so cool" until it took me 10 minutes to figure out how to open the pod. Right now the game is complicated as far as trying to build things. Even though this is a bit of a downer the fact that you can explore just about anything is a definite plus to the game. I am looking forward to the finished game as I see it easily become a fav among those that love exploration and survival games.
There is a learning curve to this game, one that I am still learning and will continue to do so because of the time and effort going into the game. As to resources, you can get them just about anywhere. If you did enough you will even have a water supply that easy for you to get to. This is not a quick game and takes time to be able to get tasks done but they can get done, just be patient and don't give up.
Ok, lets get straight to point - this is "Entertain yourself" type of game. Thats it. At start you get very brief intro, tutorial stage and dropped in "safe" area of foreign planet. While game have some starting objectives to get you on right path and not let die on first day from this moment you pretty much on your own, game doesnt hold your hand. So you have to mine, build, explore and construct things all yourself.
There is some scarce plot just to add some sense into deeper exploration and show off some cool biomes and alien derelicts but overall plot is just because game need some plot. Later in game you get some story but its too little to make much sense,
Now, with plot written off as asset we left with exploration, building, crafting and mining. I'd say if you into building things this is your game. PN allows you to build some insane mech including buggy, hoverships, flying machines, even moving bases and flying fortresses. Add to this complex "piping" system with automation and you can spend dozen of hours going bananas. No problem here, except poor sailing options.
That is really upsets me is exploration. Yes, there is various biomes including some picturesque ones. But, when you drive in your car to next wreck site this bountifulness quickly starts to bore you since its all pretty much same in same biome. Animals? Forget it, there is just 6 types and all of them seems same with different details, all their behaviors is similar. Animals posses big threat before you get gun and is just annoyance later.
Now, worst thing is weather, Eridanus is like Russia's Saint-Petersburg - its world of rain. Yes, sometimes you get sunny days but usually its rain, howling winds or cold hurricane with thunder. And its in SAFE biome, conditions in desert or icy tundra is even worse.
So, lets summarize : mine, craft, build, explore. Game formula didnt changed a bit from early stage of development. Thats it, nothing more.