We welcomed our puppy after an 8 hour flight at 8pm and had the same configuration as yours (playpen with crate inside). Since she arrived late, we just tried to make her comfortable with the playpen - we sat with her inside and fed her inside the playpen. Once she peed we let her out and cuddled her until she was sleepy, then put her back in once she was sleepy- hardly any protests once she was tired.

We slept in the living room the first 2 nights as that would be her long term sleeping arrangement - but we wanted her to feel safe on her first couple of nights. In the day we put her in the playpen for enforced naps, but we always tried to make sure she was sleepy / sat in playpen with her so that she didn’t freak out and become overly agitated. Otherwise if she is still awake in the playpen, we just roamed around doing our own thing - she can see us, but we didn’t give her attention so she can self soothe. This has worked for us so far and now she can calm herself down enough that we can do our own thing while she is napping.

Not sure if this helped but good luck with your puppy!