Quest markers are evidently not included in the current Alpha, and I am finding that mostly refreshing, but occasionally frustrating. I hope that when they do come in they will be fairly minimalist and optional, with the quest design being such that you can do the quests without them, with a bit more work. Indeed, I wonder whether quest markers could be done away with in favour of simple map markers showing places mentioned as important during the quest.

There are times when some sort of marker makes sense, as it is a location the townsfolk would know so all you would have to do is ask, eg the old church or Esmerelda's house, or when someone says they are marking a location on your map. But there is no obvious reason why such places should only show when you have a particular quest highlighted. Maybe mark them on the map when the location becomes significant and simply highlight the marker, if any, for the selected quest.

There are other quest stages when I really wouldn't want a marker, as I shouldn't know where something is: such as in the murder quest phase which says we need to check Jake's body, or the Staff quest talking about "one of the secluded beaches in the area".

The advantage of playing without quest markers during testing is that needing a marker can highlight a design flaw: on an early playthrough I got frustrated because I couldn't find Esmerelda, it turned out that was because she is invisible behind her hams; and I still haven't managed to find that old church, in spite of a signpost which claims to point toward it.

Different players like different aspects of a game like this: some like exploring, some like solving puzzles, some like combat and some like following the story. Aids like quest markers need to support different play styles, but I think they also need to avoid hand-holding to the extent of spoiling the overall experience.