The Eyes Wide With Fear quest hands you a diary fragment and a vague promise that treasure is buried "nearby." No coordinates, no X on the map, just the cryptic notes of someone who clearly did not survive the experience. The good news is the quest follows a consistent structure across every playthrough, even with Windrose's procedural generation shuffling island layouts around. Follow the steps below and you will have the Madman's Chest in your inventory without the usual twenty minutes of pressing dig on random patches of ground.
How do you start the Eyes Wide With Fear quest?
The quest breaks into two distinct stages. The first sends you to uncover a survivor's story, which gives you a chest with a clue inside. According to Destructoid's coverage of the quest, this initial chest contains Diary Fragments that push the quest forward. Your journal updates with a new objective once you read them, and from there the real hunt begins.
The second stage is finding the Madman's Chest itself, which is buried underground on the same island where you found the survivor's remains. The quest marker updates and points you toward the dig site. Because the island layout shifts with each new game, the exact position relative to the world map will differ, but the chest's position relative to the island's points of interest stays consistent, as confirmed by community documentation at boostmatch.gg.
Diary fragment in journal
Where exactly is the Madman's Chest?
Once your quest marker updates after reading the Diary Fragments, open your Journal (hotkey J) and note the blue map marker. Head to that location. When you arrive, you will find scattered skeleton remains in the area. The chest is not sitting on top of the ground.
According to Destructoid, the chest sits in an area between several large trees. The boostmatch.gg guide adds a useful visual tell: sparkles appear in the ground near a buried chest before you commit to digging. Walk slowly through the center of the skeleton cluster and watch the ground texture. When you see the sparkle effect, you are standing on the right spot.
If you are not seeing the dig prompt activate, your Shovel is likely in the wrong mode. Press Z or X to cycle it into Dig mode. Weapon mode just swings at air.
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The skeleton remains form a rough cluster. The dig target is the center of that cluster, not the edges. If the prompt is not appearing, walk inward toward the densest concentration of bones.
Sparkle marks the dig spot
How to Complete Eyes Wide With Fear Quest
- Find the first chest on the island and loot the Diary Fragments inside.
- Open your Journal (J) and read the fragments. The blue quest marker updates.
- Equip your Shovel and switch it to Dig mode with Z or X.
- Travel to the marked location and look for scattered skeleton remains.
- Move to the center of the skeleton cluster and watch for ground sparkles.
- Activate the dig prompt when it appears. The old chest surfaces.
- Do not loot immediately. Read the next section first.
What happens when you open the chest?
Here is what neither quest description warns you about: opening the surfaced chest triggers an immediate Drowned enemy ambush. Multiple enemies spawn at once. This is a designed encounter, not a bug, and the Drowned here hit harder than early-game enemies suggest is reasonable.
Kill every Drowned before you attempt to loot the chest. Trying to grab items mid-combat is how you end up dying next to the reward you just spent real effort finding.
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Bring at least 3-4 Healing Potions before heading to this quest. The boostmatch.gg guide specifically recommends Great Healing Potions if you have them available. The Drowned ambush scales harder than tutorial enemies implied.Also worth doing before you set out: upgrade your Copper Axe and Pickaxe if you are early in the game. The combat here punishes players who skipped gear progression.
What are the quest rewards?
The two sources list slightly different reward values, which likely reflects different game versions or difficulty settings. Here is what both report:
The Silver Ingots and Tumbaga Ingot are both genuinely useful crafting materials at this stage of the game. The XP reward of 100 noted by Destructoid also contributes to progression. Expect some variation depending on your current game version.
Do you need a Shovel before starting this quest?
Yes. The Madman's Chest is underground and requires a Shovel to surface. According to the FAQ section in the boostmatch.gg guide, crafting a Shovel requires 3x Copper Ingot and 10x Wood at your Workbench. You will need a Pickaxe, Kiln, and Furnace built first before you can produce the Copper Ingots needed.
Do not head to the quest marker without the Shovel already in your inventory. There is nothing to interact with at the site until you can dig.
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Build your Smelting Furnace and smelt the Copper Ingots before leaving your base. Backtracking to craft the Shovel mid-quest wastes time and leaves you exposed on the island longer than necessary.
For more Windrose walkthroughs and quest guides across every major game, browse more guides at GAMES.GG.