I played it like 3 months ago before the Echoes update, so this isn't based on the launch version or anything.

The environments are no longer the same everywhere, sure you will find matching planets but they don’t all look like asteroids with hair anymore. Minerals dont stick out of the ground anymore. And underground caves exists.

I mean yeah, but they don't look any better or more varied than Starfield's planets, that's for sure. It's neat that they added caves but the caves are also pretty boring. There's not much in them beyond some more resources. You don't have the expansiveness or endlessness of minecraft caves nor the buried mines and mob spawners and lava and more interesting underground stuff.

Never thought space combat sucked? It’s not to the level of Elite Dangerous, but it’s somewhat entertaining, and accomplishes what need to be done imo.

It's serviceable, but I wouldn't describe it as fun, as in I don't actively enjoy the space combat. I find Starfield's juggling of systems and targeting on top of standard dog fighting maneuvering at least a little more engaging, but a serviceable system that's not that much fun kind of describes most of No Man's Sky to me.

It’s an MMORPG so of course you have grinding, and for my current playthrough it isn’t boring yet. I’ve got a minecraft vibe, where you upgrade gear and ammass items for future uses.

I find it's crafting to be far less satisfying than Minecraft's or say Subnautica's, and a lot more grindy, but that could just be me.

Again, I know they have all these different systems, but it really feels like each system is just barely enough of a system to entertain you for a couple hours, but doesn't have the depth / polish / interweaving complexity to truly hold you.