I've died to a berry bush once, I think that was definitely the height of my Minecraft career XD
There's a lot of new features and it's definitely one of those games you need to play with a wiki tab open in the background (though it's not impossible to go in blind, especially nowadays that the crafting recipe book is a thing), but I personally enjoy learning about it. I just suffer from major skill issue when it comes to combat and I have a poor sense of direction, which is a recipe for disaster when gathering resources >_<
And yes!! They've added a ton of cute critters, it's very charming