It's not brutal, it's tedious. You don't 'survive', you fend off random encounters. You don't explore, you scour your equipment-appropriate biome for materials. You don't write your own saga or reveal a narrative, you pump your numbers to clumsily shoot at/wallop on a bag of hit points to unlock the next tier of gear. Rinse, repeat. Better with friends, and fingers crossed that things get better as the game continues to receive updates.