TBH, this game is the only recent game with survival, base building and pet collection mechanics all mixed together. Some games require you to collect pet but then the pet doesn’t affect your survival or base building. Some games require you to farm stuff for survival and base building, but pet had no part in it. The game has just okay-ish quality and lots of QoL features are needed. The game also doesn’t have any ground breaking design. It simply mixes all elements coercively in a $30 package (even less with regional pricing). That’s how it gets the big win. Well deserved of course and I really love playing the game.
(If it costs $60, it would fail right at the gate.)