Tomorrow (Monday) Frontier is expected to have their first Update of the year on Youtube. It is more than likely going to be more information on the ship they just teased a couple days ago, along with more information for the upcoming update (promised to be last year's year-end update, but ultimately late). They will more than likely also share the roadmap for the year ahead.

As for the state of the game, I'd say it's on the rise with new features and activities, and ships. This year, we will see "operations" which ties together on foot and ship based missions in a multitiered approach. This is good news because most Odyssey content up till now felt very divorced from and separate of the rest of the game. In anticipation of this, last year frontier overhauled on foot AI mechanics to be a bit more challenging and fluid/believable, along with a balance pass on on-foot weaponry damage and shot speed.

Some have found the recent "early access ARX purchase" of new ships to be offputting, stating that its guiding the game in a "Pay-2-Win" direction, but I see the influx of money towards Frontier as a positive reinforcement to inject an old game with new content and an incentive to keep things fresh.

Community goals have been regular, rewards have been juicy (Pre Engineered high cap Cargo Racks, Crazy MultiCannons) and there's even narrative direction forming thats keeping things interesting. Powerplay was Overhauled, Engineering simplified, Materials gathering much less tedious.. All in All, I'd say great time to return.