no penalty for getting killed, and you'r backpack drops and stay in the area for a little while
leveling is fast enough, you should be able to build a ship by the time you built your first base just by exploring and farming stuff
at level 3 you get the remover tools, that allow you to scrap stuff salvaging all the components which is essential as the starting planet lacks neodymium and you can find it dismantling pieces of alien equipment
you can find the broken ship you crashed from scattered around the planet btw, it's a good source of high tech components
as you say survival aspect is just a nuisance on akua and becomes an actual mechanic in space. with fridges and stuff you can live off dinosaurs salami, which is nice since canned food takes loads of effort to build and there's no automation to help. at least kava is easy enough to obtain (replenish stamina, just takes seeds + water)
when you hit space there's more of the same - bigger drones that can compete with your spaceship and alien bases and capital vessels to fight, but capital vessel can use turret which changes stuff around a bit. you can also land them on top of enemies which makes taking over poi a little more epic
it currently lacks an endgame but it's fun enough as enemies are not pushovers and keep you engaged.
I play this in mp with my brothers and I love it.