by Zephroze » Tue Nov 11, 2025 12:45 am
Do what Zomboid did and give a little limited PVE environment tutorial zone (It's a fenced in zone) where players can leave any time they want, but they're warned that the game is complicated and doing the tutorial is required for any player to enjoy it.
For permadeath and revival, have a bear kill them, then they respawn there and get told to bury their ancestor and inherit.
The tutorial can provide everything necessary to show a person how to get up to a claimed palisade and explain the importance, as well as a taste of death and the consequences. Then at the end once the palisade is built, it can have a player character show up, then shake their fist and leave, saying "Next time I'll bring a battering ram"
Then the player can spend as long as they want in their little mini PVE environment, lacking any meaningful progress, until they're ready to continue with the game. If they choose to stay there, they will quickly get bored.