How to not suck?

[Senva]

I'm not great at survival games, but this is brutal even by normal standards; I can't even leave the starting spawn house/trailer/whatever before I'm mobbed to death. How do I improve, how do I get better, survive?

If I can't even escape one house without being noticed, or at least without attracting a large horde, what do I do? I genuinely want to like this game, it's been on my radar for years, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't kind of regret buying it, even on sale.

Advice for this poor bastard?

[Kingkilla]

Adjust settings in Sandbox mode until you find something you're comfortable with.

[Senva]

Originally posted by Kingkilla:

Adjust settings in Sandbox mode until you find something you're comfortable with.

Not a bad idea honestly, I'll give it a try.

[nor7hy5]

prevention is the best in this case but there is ways for you to get away from hordes of zombies first of all try not to attract too many more zombies try going through backyards and try to go through houses by opening up the windows and then closing it behind you with holding the e key as going through houses will make the zombies lose sight of you make sure not to sprint too much once you get a bit away as that can re-attract them then just slowly walk your way away through some more building untill you lose all of them or most of them then take out the rest there also fences you can jump over which either slows them down greatly or the ones you can't see behind they can't even go through those so jumping over a high fence will allow you to lose them fast to do this just hold i think it's e when near a high fence and you will jump over it of course make sure to not be exhausted/unfit as that will make it so you can't climb the high fence this will help you lose the zombies you could also go through the woods or go through tree those can lose you zombies pretty fast though be carefull as trees can damage you and get you scratches just make sure to stop running once you get a bit away and start walking until you lose most or all of them.

also tip for combat always walk backwards while swinging so walk up to the zombies or wait for it to get to you and while trying to fight it always walk backwards and then walk up to it then backwards when you swing this will make sure you can't get grabbed/bite or scratches while also hitting the zombie.

[Shadowcub]

As a new player as well (though coming from a number of survival games), my best advice is to try not get frustrated, rather focus on learning the game chunks at a time and don't worry about dying.

For instance, make a character and focus on getting use to the combat system and zombie AI (which I think is really the most important thing to learn in this game in order to start having fun and learn the other systems). Pick fights, learn how to lure one or two away from a group, learn how to break up a group. If you die, it doesn't matter, you're not invested in the character.

Meanwhile, think about what you'd like your custom sandbox to be like for a more serious attempt. The custom settings are super flexible and you can tailor pretty much anything from I Am Legend to The Walking Dead. I would recommend going easy on yourself, though, as you learn the rest of the game.

When you die you have the option to start a new character in the world you are currently playing in. In this way, you can retain some progress in the form of your stashed items and any bases you've built up. You can, of course, also just start a new game.

[Lorin]

Make a nice character (the internet has some builds if you're not interested in picking the traits yourself). It makes a big difference.
Also, for me builder mode has made the game more enjoyable. There's still zombies just not hordes. If you're going for building a nice base you'll need to stay alive so it's still imperative that you're careful even with a few zombies as they can easily bite you from behind.