Some top of my head — proper beginner's guide, p2e so player can still play despite having low player count, wide devices support, game should be lightweight on both device and Internet.
This is a blockchain type of game so cryptos are involved here and when there are cryptos, people have the ability to earn them. It can be by playing the game, staking, or mining inside it. I've seen some blockchain/play-to-earn games before which have all the features that I mentioned above but the only problem about them is that they are hard to understand or not user-friendly in other words so you are right when you say that a proper beginner's guide is important.
It's normal to have a low player count if the project is a starter but it will grow as long as it's being marketed well and all the great features are already there.
I learned from your post-some words like "proper guidance" thanks ... I'll write it down in my notebook