Thanks for playing and sharing your thoughts!
Ideally I'll strike a balance yeah. I don't think they're mutually exclusive, as learning about the wildlife enables you to not only progress, but learn more about your own relationship to Anders.
Current version of the game doesn't showcase much of that though, hoping to push out an update to the demo which does add that more overtly. After that will be the long haul to a 1.0 release!