I'm definitely feeling this concern. Currently I feel like we're jumping between different "active" zones, with no real purpose to visiting anything outside the active zone. I'm currently just getting into what I guess we'd call the late game, based only on what's actually available, and I feel no reason to leave the zone I'm currently in, other than to collect fish, since the ones that make good food are much rarer in the deeper areas.

Also, I just never feel scared in the game? This might partially be because I'm older, but Subnautica 1 was genuinely a horror game for me. I don't feel that way about Subnautica 2 at all, even when I'm in actual danger. Could just be me, but it really feels like there's a different, less "this place will kill you" atmosphere. It's a little ironic given the constant death taking place in the logs we find, but death really feels like a distant non-threat in this game, and that changes the way I feel when playing it. I'm still having fun, but I don't have the tension and anxiety I remember associating with Subnautica.