I've also been trying out some Project Zomboid. I bought this all the way back in 2014, but never played it much, since I thought it was devilishly hard.
But this time, I tweaked the sandbox rules a bit to make it a bit more forgiving (early days of the zombie plague, less zombies, no death on infection and no respawning of zombies) and I really enjoy it.
You just have to get to the point where you treat it less like a game, and more like a... life sim perhaps?
You get up in the morning, change clothes, eat some food and then decide on how to use the day.
My current character is working on improving his home, looting local businesses (and the large school next door) and utilizing the neighbor's yard as a makeshift cemetery for all unfortunate zombies that come to close.
And, can't forget to clean the house if it gets bloody!
You can really do a little bit of everything in this game. An easy recommendation.