Great game, just binged for the last 4 hours simultaneously with a buddy...cant wait for the steam version and co-op.
My suggestions, possibly noted above (apologies)
-Mid game meter such as "sanity" once you have the food/water/living situation sorted there isn't much of a challenge so incorporating sleep/rest & fun activities to keep you sane would be a decent challenge.
- Pirates...yup!
-Larger chest, wider inventory, higher item stacking later game. So you can spend less time micro managing and concentrate more on other aspects of the game. layer on
Besides that ...all the other stuff mentioned above sounds great! and I look forward to playing more.