I have some more thoughts about this game.
1.Large amounts of low value items repetitive to collect
More condensed items are a good solution, but I also like the auto collection. Perhaps we can have some sort of telekinesis potion, that auto collects most simple items within 2 tiles and within sight, and lasts for a duration. It might not work on the core loot of the zones, as this could break balance.
With permadeath players are expected to experience the "refine forest for charcoal" stage quite many times, and this stage needs lots of collection. So this potion should become avaliable shortly after this stage, maybe this recipe could be included in forest zone loot list.
2.Gardening?
This is mainly about exploring locations, so gardening may not quite fit the theme. However, some items are mainly bought, and can't be reliably found in exploration. These items include food and beverage. Probably these items can be gardened. And gardening is also a good place to go for my 300+ something dead, which is overabundant from refining forests.
3.snakes
For gameplay, I'm okay with the snakes as they currently are. In forests they are very easy to deal with, also easy in farms, but much more difficult in swamps, because fire no longer works. Perhaps I need to freeze them instead. I have completed a few forests, so I'll talk about snakes in forests.
The special loot of forest area is near the path (bag in zone 2, mangrove in zone 3), and the only natural threat is snakes. In the lore, snakes recognize the path as human territory and try to avoid it. In the game however, I have to go off the path very often to avoid snakes. The path is still important because it leads to the loot, and the open space helps me avoid the snakes. I'm ok with the snake challenge but not the conflict between lore and gameplay.