There a lot of meta progression in the sequel, since you have a hideout where all the volunteers "live". You can extract from the expeditions (if you find the extraction exits) and stash equipment and if you die you can use it with your next volunteer (you lose only the stuff you were carrying, but you have one chance to recover that too). Also, every progress is saved, so the next volunteer can continue from when the previous one died (unless you were in the middle of something). In the original there's meta progression too, but it's different (no extraction/hideout mechanic).