I ignored all the mtx stuff, which was pretty easy, and have had a blast with co-op. I can’t think of anything else that comes close to this in terms of meaningful synergies with friends. And Shiny Shoe has proven they know how to use EA to turn out a good product with Monster Train so I wouldn’t give up on them quite yet.
They’ve made a number of strange decisions I think. The game has a lot more story with voice acting than Monster Train. But then it’s also co-op and has this lobby room you hang out in with random people and it doesn’t matter in any way that I can’t tell. The game itself is amazing though and none of the other stuff detracts from it in my opinion. If you’re at all still interested, you could watch a let’s play. I know there are some co-op sessions recorded.