Valheim is an excellent survival game with great building mechanincs. You don't have to constantly eat to stay alive, eating just buffs your HP and stamina, which is mostly necessary for fighting. Valheim is a real gem.

EDIT: I saw your friends don't like early access and I totally get that. I hate it myself. Make an exception for Valheim though, the game has so much content already and the first five biomes are already finished. You can pretty much ignore that there are new biomes coming and just play it as a complete game for biome 1-5.