Yeah this game is kind of a mess, sorry.
First of all, it is way to big. The map is huge but there is basically nothing going on and going anywhere takes forever. Shrink it down to 1/4th maybe 1/8th its current size and it would already be way better.
Second, the survival stuff really doesn't work either. Why does it take 15 seconds to eat some berries or drink some water? I could do both of these faster at the same time with one hand tied behind my back. Stamina regeneration is also aggravatingly slow and the sprint speed is way too slow too.
Thirdly, while the idea of the character speculating on what's going on is really cool, they kinda need to find something and fast to make it interesting. I made it to three sisters beach, read the hint telling me to go along the beach to maybe find something, then walked all the way up the map (which took forever) and back down to that beach again and still found nothing. If there is something/someone to find, it should be the next beach over with a smoke plume or something to guide you to it,
I really think that this game, in its current state, is way to big for a single dev to pull off and too unfocused in general. Scrap the survival mechanics, they add nothing to the game, make the map much, much smaller and just have the game being about you finding/following breadcrumbs leading to you figuring out what the hell happened and how you got there.
I'm sorry if I come off as mean, but I feel it needed to be said.