Nah, traits just served as an additional tool for min/maxing, with the exception of Bloody Mess which IIRC was strictly flavor. Firstly, the games are different enough that I don't feel a need for UnderRail to try to become a reskin of Fallout. Secondly, it seems like specialization points serve a similar purpose, and are absolutely a significant discriminant - maybe you would never consider maxing out the Salesman specialization; maybe I already have 
And just so, there's additional uniqueness.
No, not really. Besides "Gifted", which was plain overpowered, the others gave clear cut noticable disadvantages which could not be compensated for. Take Skilled for example. Few took it. While it gave you a lot of skill points you effectively lost 2 maybe 3 feats. People tend to dismiss skill points over feats, even though being able to hit those critical eye shots 3-4 levels earlier than on a Gifted character sure made a difference. Small Frame is such a trait, where you have to either severely limit what you take with you or get a couple of companions, which considering that many dumped charisma was not so easy.
There are other traits that provided flair as well like "Sex Appeal" and "Jinxed" for example.
Specialization does not offer anything like proper traits. They are clear cut improvements to feats you already have. In essence, you get better feats. That is not the same as traits.
