Hey everyone, I’ve been thinking a lot about this question while working on The Apocalypse: does a survival sandbox game really need a full quest system?
If you look at survival sandboxes from the past few years, there’s been a shift. Early games usually gave you nothing — just two hands and a world full of resources. No quests, no instructions, just pure freedom. But more recently, to help guide players (and lower the entry barrier), a lot of games have added quest systems, even full main storylines with side quests.
The classic loop of these games is explore → gather → craft → survive. It works, but sometimes players feel a bit lost: What should I do next? What’s the goal? That’s where quests come in handy — teaching you how to craft tools, build a shelter, or setting a long-term objective. Quests can help with direction and pacing.
But there’s a tradeoff. Quests can also fight against the “open world freedom” vibe:
They can feel restrictive, like you’re forced down a checklist.
They risk turning the game into a standard RPG with fetch quests instead of a survival adventure.
They can break immersion for players who just want to build and see how long they can last, without an NPC nagging them to “go gather 10 stones.”
For The Apocalypse, I wrestled with this too. Right now, my approach is: keep freedom first. In the early game, there will be light guidance (like building a shelter or crafting basic tools), but later on the drive comes more from world events and discoveries instead of fixed quests. In other words, quests are there as optional support, not something that forces you along a path.
But I’d really love to hear what you think. Should a survival sandbox have a full quest system? Just light guidance and optional goals? Or nothing at all — pure freedom?
Drop your thoughts in the comments. I’ll be reading everything, and honestly, your feedback might shape how The Apocalypse grows in future updates.
(Quick reminder: if you’re interested in the game, please add The Apocalypse to your wishlist — it really helps!)