Played it Wednesday night for the first time, and you do get thrown in the deep end a bit! It starts off all about trying to find "parts" and isotopes and chemicals etc to rebuild your ship that's crashed and also to repair your exosuit that's protecting you from radiation, so the game starts off very survivalist . So far I've been to one other planet, which was inhabited by advanced lifeforms so made a friend already haha. There was no booklet in my copy, not sure if there should have been one or not, but it's been very like trial and error to work out what I need to do so far but reading forums it gets less survivalist and more explorative which is the main draw of the game.
But it's good, I like it, looking forward to spending a few hours on it tonight