I think the current contents could use some form of "progression blocker" or similar mechanic.
For example in the first area, the slime cave, player get access to 4 different routes: Slime Boss, Green Slime, Corrupted Rena, and the exit to flesh cave. Also Digivice to a lesser extent. After acquiring the Digivice I got lost immedietly, not sure which route should I take next.
I checked the Digivice, but found out that most of the functions are not working, though to be fair there is a hint suggesting to go back to the merchant. And the Slime Boss & Corrupted Rena are both too strong for my stats. I defeated the 3 blue slimes bullying the green one, but the green one just disappeared without any context. Then I just proceed to the flesh cave exit, and unlocked the flesh cave portal, but countine onward doesn't seem right for me either.
It was until then I returned to the merchant, and got the Digivice tutorial for the first time, with updated merchant stock and crafting functionality. So I beat the Corrupted Rena next, and somehow she just mentioned about my green slime pet which I have no idea where it was at. And no matter how I interact with the camp portal, I can't unlock it. Finally after beating the Slime Boss, I found the green slime, and unlocked the camp portal, way after the flesh portal.
I assume this was due to the fact that a lot of the contents were added during the development process, so player from previous version won't get confused by them. But as a new player there sure puzzled me for quite some time.
I would sugget adding something to block the way, guiding player to the designed path. Like after you get the Digivice, making it damaged and not functioning, forcibly guiding player back to the merchant. Also blocking the way to flesh exit and Corrupted Rena with something like a wall of slime, that only dissolve after you beat the Slime Boss.
Another suggestion would be about the unique weapons. I understand having no duplicates are the reason why they are unique, but if later material could be used to craft stronger weapon, then I am kinda just stuck in the state of never ending "saving this for later" trap...I think giving player the option to deconstruct unique weapon back to the basic form would be nice. E.g. using extra slime ball to revert a slime claw back to the sharp claw. This way they are still unique but you can always upgrade them later on.