Curious about small-ish group play

I have a group of friends that does a weekly game night (usually like 6-8 hours during that night). Some of the games we've done in the past are Valheim and Raft.

Ideally we are looking for something that is fairly drop-in friendly that doesn't leave someone completely in the dust if they can't play for a night (or even part of one)

Our group ranges from 5-9 people (5 core people that will show up for most of the night every plus some extras)

How viable would Eco be for us, do you think? What are some things/settings we should consider if we were going to give it a try?

Thanks much!