You can go to camp and not rest actually.
But yes there's a disconnect between game mechanics, which is what long rest is, and the story of "sleep and your brain will pop"
I personally would like someome PC "True Soul" who joins you and argues for the parasite not being dangerous early on, that way you actually have a feeling you aren't going to die?
Game mechanicwise the long rest and short rest system needs tuning. At the tabletop you can't really long rest every hour because it's considered a "once per day" sort of thing. But in a computer game, with no day cycle, it becomes a "spam it" option. This significantly buffs Long Rest based classes (Wizards Clerics etc), and nerfs short rest based classes (Warriors and Warlocks).
Right now short rest is almost meaningless. I can eat all the apples I want to top off health, so it's a "one time use topp off Warrior and Warlock abilities" (Not to mention it doesn't follow 5e short rest rules)
+1. They made Long rests the new Short rest
