Minecraft experienced severe feature creep over the years. It started as a very simple game: place or break different colored blocks which all have the same properties on a finite sized map, and in a few years got to the point where people were making CPUs in game with redstone. It got too big and overwhelming for people new to the franchise who haven't been dripped these updates over the years, imo.
The issue is not many features. It is surviving first night, knowing how to set creative so that you dont have to be surviving and creating all elements from first principles.
Kids need to be told how to move around, how to select blocks, etc.
