I watched my girlfriend play this for almost an hour. Even though its quite empty there's something very suspenseful about looking for water and new items. I think we ended up getting the pick, knife, dousing rod, gold dubloons, shovel, eggplant, and encountered the silent nomad.
At one point a cactus spawned on top of a disturbed ground/x marks the spot and we got extremely exited thinking it was something new. We did not end up finding an ending but had a very pleasant time.
Great atmosphere and animations, would love to see this fleshed out a bit more but I appreciate the simplicity as is.