Hey Bearded man! Thanks for inviting me to the closed beta. I've only had time to have two runs so far...The first time, I found lots of plant life off the bat, realized stones and branches were near the water and got eaten by a yellow ant eater thing. I noticed, when I pick up an item, the little popup on the right is very quick to disappear and I almost miss it. I picked things up out of order than what the little helper popup was telling me (Find a stone, Find a branch, etc.) It doesn't seem to progress to the next hint even though I may have already done what it's asking me to find or craft.
My second run, I tried to find items in the order the hints were telling me but soon realized I could not find ANY hemp. I'm not sure if this was a glitch or if maybe they are supposed to be rare and only spawn in specific areas, but I ran until I perished from cold and did not find a single hemp plant to make cordage.
I also noticed, these mobs, the ant eater yellow beetle guys and occasionally the Ant looking mobs, were randomly jumping up in the air/twisting around mid air at random, more often when I looked at them. Soon after I took the screenshot, 2 began to come straight for me from the distance shown in the image.
Not sure if this is much help, but just my thoughts so far. :)
-elizrawr