This is a very cool concept and it seems quite mature for something in beta. I do however have my doubts over choosing to use python for something as often used as the network stack. As I understand it, one of the goals for this project is efficiency, and while python is very efficient to write, it is notably very inefficient during runtime.
I hope they've done enough to the Manhattan area to 'spice it up'. In the first game I never really got any incentive to explore it beyond the icons on the map/hud. When Tears of the Kingdom released I was also a bit disappointed with how much of the map stayed the same. Sure, they added a lot of new areas in that game, but in the end you still had to cover a lot of known ground.
Still, reviews are looking good and I'm excited to try it out;
I just added this feature as i found it annoying too. Just waiting for my code to be approved and to be merged into the main codebase.
That's awesome, someone actually using Python what it's best for, creating a minimum viable product, before moving onto something more permanent!
I'll be very interested to see where this project ends up going.