How the ♥♥♥♥ do I play this properly

[realifY]

No matter how many times I try, every house I go in only has some useless crap like clothing, and no weapon or something actually helpful. AND the zombies have such good eyes and ears that they know I'm here and immediately start to bash every door and window so I have no exit as well.
What the ♥♥♥♥ am I supposed to do, really regretting my purchase now

[Pantstron]

I know how you feel, I'm still new as well, my little tips is zoom out a few times and you will be able to see zombies before they see you.

Try only take one on at a time by shoving them till they're on the ground then step on their head.

Once they see you start walking, do not run, walking is faster than the zombies speed. go through a house or around a building, you'll lose them fairly easily, basically break line of sight somehow and they lose attention

[ChaoticQuagmire]

That early on a gritle, frying pan, rolling pin, kitchen knife, sauce pan, and the meat cleaver all had a chance to spawn in the kitchen and will work as a weapon. If there is a shed or closet a metal pipe or a number of tools could be a good find to fight will right off.

Fzanco gave good tips as well but i will add that fighting 2 bare handed is possible as well by pushing until one falls then standing on that one then push the other until he falls and stomp both. You can do this with 3 as well but I recommend being used to killing 2 before trying that.

Being mindful that even decked out with great gear you will still die very fast if not careful. Had a rifle and handgun that i had been saving ammo for and i loaded them up and started shooting out the front door at a number of zombies that were attacking when i thought they were all dead i just walked through the door without any hesitation thinking i just mopped the floor against that hoard and was promptly surrounded by zeds that were up against the wall and not within line of site of the door and was eaten.

[Rodi]

this is how you died

[Armagenesis]

Watch some newbie guides on Youtube, and play sandbox with the "Initial Infection" setting to learn the ropes. And gitgud.

[Shady Allie]

Put in more time playing. You will die. A lot. This is a fact.
After every death, hopefully you take away a tiny bit of knowledge about the game mechanics, where to find things and even what things you may want.

In between all your games, read forums about topics that are giving you problems. watch videos. (game is in active development, so be aware: a video from even 6 months ago could be outdated information) Watching live streamers might be a good way. Watch some. If they give tips and feedback on why they do things in game as they play, that is a huge help. I would try to watch established zomboid players though, not the "first time playing zomboid" streams, they don't know what to do either.

Sandbox settings. Character building using different occupations and traits.
Many practice games. Try different things and settings.

Brand new game players will need to go through bunches of game starts, dying. learning. Rinse and repeat. This is how you "gitgud" - putting time into continued playing. Gitgud kinda gives the impression of elitism to me, and doesn't really help you as a tool to actually understand some game mechanics.

When you feel the frustration starting to boil your real life blood. Walk away from the game. An hour. A day. A week.

[DistantReaper]

Play with friends. You'll have much more fun while you learn the game. It's what I did.

I do recommend using fences to your advantage though. Lure them, let them hop over, stamp on head, jump back over yourself, rinse and repeat. You can kill a lot of zombies quite easily this way. Just watch out for becoming exhausted. That will get you killed / bitten.

[Grishnerf]

learning by doin,..... oops wrong game.
learning by dying.

[Grizzly]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzEjXR9DyZc

[ProtecTron]

Play on either "Builder" or tweak you own zombie experience, it's a MUST, make loot rare-normal and even common for ammo so you can actually learn to fight with guns! Later on do try other challenges if you feel like it...

[Atalan]

To learn the game's mechanics without having to keep resetting from the beginning, I started up a Sandbox game with the zombie count kept lowest and respawn turned off, skill XP set high, and weapons loot chance maxed. It's been relatively chill and I learned lots of ways to fight zombies without being overwhelmed.

[Laggy]

What you have in soothing the learning curve for this game isn’t through ‘successful experiences’ but body counts…XD that’s just the way it is… view from a different angle, difficult yet immersive, isn’t it? As for zombie’s hearing and sight, there are sandbox settings to make them dumber than they already are…

[☠ Buccaneer ☠]

I think this game appeals to people who enjoy overcoming challenge & adversity. People that look at failure as a learning opportunity will excel in PZ. It is similar to Darkest Dungeon in that sense, you cannot get too attached to your character.

This game is 100% not for the instant gratification crowd.

[Ronin]

Sandbox mode

[Simonates]

yes i'm having the same problem here, no fun whatsoever

[Pherdnut]

C to crouch (sneak). Avoid direct line of sight if they're less than a couple big house plots away. If they're not close, running between LOS obstacles while crouching is probably the way to go to avoid being spotted.

You will get spotted. Quite frequently. That's part of the game. Same with dying. Getting through the first few weeks is pretty challenging.

Uncrouch when spotted and you can walk away from the zombies. Don't need to run most of the time and don't when you don't need to since that makes more noiuse. Try walking down an open road to see about how far you get before most lose sight of you and quit. You can cut that distance a lot by cutting line of sight in trees, through houses, etc.

You can handle 1-3 zombies without weapons. Space bar to push them down. Try to push the others while standing on the downed zombies to keep them down. Stomp on their heads at every opportunity.

Zombies vary in strength, detection, etc. Be very careful to avoid letting more than one or two get close. Upside of varied detection is that you can often pull 1 or 2 off of a bigger pack by slowly sneaking close until just a smaller group notices you and then walk them away somewhere private to re-kill them and then rinse/repeat.

If they spotted you in a house you just entered, it's more likely they spotted you on the way in. It happens but they don't seem to have great odds of spotting you through windows if you and the zombie aren't very close to the same window.

Google "best negative traits" for zomboid. There are a bunch that are pretty ubiquitous. I definitely recommend athletic for new players. Being able to run a lot without wiping out is really helpful. Particularly for herding large groups and walking them away from areas you want to loot. (this takes practice and bring an extra water/sandwich).