Should I come back for abandoned mode?

Curious for those of you who have tried abandoned mode already.

I havent played NMS in about 2 years. I got really into it in VR (300 hours), then I got busy with work and left for a long while. I tried again about 8 months ago in pancake mode on Xbox, but within a few hours I was feeling uninspired.

When I saw abandoned mode was now an option, it made me realize that that might be why I defeat so uninspired last time: I don't want to to talk to the same NPCs to do the same quests in every system. But the standard gameplay loop kind of requires you to do it, and even if you don't want to it's just so convenient to go back to them.

Does abandoned mode change the game enough to make it really feel like you're on your own? Do you have to change your gameplay strategies to make any real progress? Is it more challenging?

Thanks in advance!