This is a spiritual successor, what is staying the same is just as important as what is changing.
There is still an emphasis on shooter combat, resource collecting and crafting stuff.
Though now we will be able to build vehicles and structures not just gear.
Instead of excessive granularity just for gear, we have a more streamlined input for a far more varied output.
The thumper concept returns but has upgraded from a passive, stationary drill machine to a giant bipedal mech that has some fight of it's own. The enemies that attack that mech will range from smaller enemies we face directly to giant monsters that require a concerted effort between us and the T.H.M.P.R. Then we have to protect it on it's way back to a base.
This time around we are looking at a smaller, more unified dev team. No investor to interfere.
Pure PVE for the foreseable future to keep the scope smaller. and, of course, a different story/lore that this is all built upon.