Many shall we say "special interest" games do force progression, limit your time to get things done, are puzzling about how to progress or otherwise make getting the desired results frustrating. I find that to be a tease. I rather like the sandbox freedom of play in this one, It's refreshing and relaxing in a Minecraft sort of way.
I don't know how difficult it would be for the developers to add different modes in the spirit of "survival mode" and "creative mode". But it might be a way to satisfy a variety of different tastes such as yours and mine.