there is no looted items.
there are almost 0 character building... you level skills by what gear you wear, but you basically can choose your gender and your weapons. The rest is just by doing stuff.

its not that kind of game. Its like no mans sky, really. Light survival, but challenging combat (at least until you get towards endgame). Plenty of dangerous monsters until you have all the best stuff. That means the mid game is the hardest, as the beginner zone assumes you have no gear, and the end zone you outgear that pretty much, leaving the middle as rather dangerous. There are more zones coming, eventually. for now it stops rather awkwardly where you are notably better than the enemy when you hit the end. Base building is critical, not just cosmetic. You need the facilities to make gear to progress.