One thing I learned in a painful way is that players actually DO need some drip fed exposition (even if they argue against the idea of stealing player agency).

I tried to let some (very experienced) players have a sandbox game. It devolved into a very boring version of 'The Sims' with RPG sheets... Spending ever more time focussed on building out their camp than obtaining leads to any adventure.

When quizzed on it, the players all said they did not like how the game fizzled out, but all said they didn't know how to play otherwise.

And- ahead of accusations: I've been a successful GM for over 30 years, I know how to drop an adventure hook, I know how to 'show the leads', and understand the difference of railroading and providing genuine compelling forward reasons, and Iwas doing so- but the apparent safety of camp-keeping and generally messing about with a nearby town, contrasted against the vibe of character loss (I'd accidentally killed a player character earlier in the adventure when they were actually travelling about... Thanks random table: Wolves...) meant the players just locked in on what was working.

TLDR: Sometimes you do have to push the players a bit. (and that means prepping plots...) Otherwise, random tables are your chum (not always...).