A simple, exploit/mod-free guide to surviving the first 28 days, after that it’s up to you to figure out what you want to do.
 
 
Apocalypse setting or harder is recommended.
 
 

Introduction

Alright, so you have never played Project Zomboid before, right?
 
 
Now here you are and you are hopefully looking for an explanation as to how to play this game.
 
 
The game is what I would consider realistic, this comes with advantages and disadvantages and this is the first place to start. Survival scenarios, in the real world, are about refraining from following your natural instincts and overcoming them. This means that the best thing to do in real life is true in this game.
 
 
Stay Calm.
 
Always have two entrances to the space.
 
Stay Mobile.
 
 
Now let’s not beat around the bush and get things started.
 
 
 

Character Creation

This is where the game excels, there are very few genuinely bad traits, but they always have a huge upside. Take deaf, for example, there is one major event that makes or breaks the game and deaf people cannot react to it. This means that you are theoretically unable to survive past day 9.
 
 
True but also wrong.
 
 
Deaf people have a huge burst of points to help them out, and you can survive the apocalypse with just some basic common sense. What’s the advantage to being deaf?
 
 
You can’t hear. It’s the single best attribute to have if you survive past week 2. I have made it past week 2 many times and every time I have died for the same reason.
 
 
I got careless.
 
 
Deaf people can’t assume ‘no noise = no zombies’ and this has gotten me bit more than anything else. Alternatively, I am pretty sure deaf people stay calmer when they are being tailed by a horde. Which is useful for staying calm if you can control your line of sight.
 
 
Would I recommend being deaf for a first play through? No. It is just a concept.
 
 
What is the single most useful trait to get for a newbie? Thick Skinned.
 
 
It greatly reduces your chances of being infected on Apocalypse, unless you get surrounded, but it is also fairly pricy. It does pair well with Obese. The single best negative trait in the game.
 
 
Obese means you are weaker, but not that much weaker. I love it, because you can immediately start and loose weight in the game.
 
 
Basic Easy Mode Build:
 
Unemployed
 
Obese
 
Thick Skinned
 
(Brave)
 
((Outdoorsman))
 
(((Cat’s Eyes)))
 
(((Dextrous)))
 
 
Brave is useful to dealing with groups of zombies early on. Panic reduces your melee ability, A LOT, and staying calm is very critical to surviving. Outdoorsman is less useful than brave, but a handy one to have because you wont get scratched by tress. Scratches can potentially mean you are infected with the zombie infection, so it can just help you (the player, not character) stay calm.
 
 
Trees, fences, and windows can and will scratch you.
 
 
So why Outdoorsman? Because when, not if, you have a horde following you, trees are the best way to loose a horde. We will be getting into it later, dealing with hordes.
 
 
Cat’s Eye and Dexterous are my go to for the remaining four points, but you can do whatever you want with them, Honestly that’s what the ( ) Parentheses are for, it means I don’t really care if you use them. Dextrous means you grab and move items faster, EXTREMELY useful, especially when you have a backpack full of books or canned goods.
 
 
Cat’s Eye is handy at night, allowing a Full Moon night to be almost as bright as a regular day, but it doesn’t seem helpful on New Moons. There are lunar cycles in the game. Pay attention to them with and without Cat’s Eye to see if you like it. I play a LOT of time in the dark.
 
 
Note: This is not my actual gameplay build, but it is meant to be a general starting point. Some people like wakeful, because you sleep less; but I hate it because it is harder to keep a regular schedule for your character. Some people like smoker because it helps you stay calm in dangerous situations, like brave, but you need to smoke to get the benefit.
 
 
The build I am putting together is a sneaky character that operates at night, night means you are harder to see for zombies. So how will they detect you?
 
 
Take some time to figure out what else I add to my character.
 
 
 

Basic Controls

I am not going to go through all the controls, but I will cover the basics.
 
 
C – is for crouch, meaning you can move below window level and the zombies might not see you through an open window.
 
 
What it is actually useful for is the skill “Lightfoot” as your character makes a LOT less noise while in crouch mode.
 
 
Opening windows is also important to mention for the first 28 days of survival.
 
 
Best way to do it is to lure a zombie, inside the house, out through a window. You can also lure a zombie, on the outside of the house,into the house by standing on the far side of the house. This is trickier though, and not necessarily helpful.
 
 
Why use zombies? House alarms, if you are playing a deaf run, this is your only real option for getting through windows. Lure a zombie to the window of the houses and wander off. You shouldn’t need to stay in the area to finish up. Just leave it alone and the zombies will probably break out on their own. For doing this off screen, windows will work well enough, but doors will not.
 
 
If an alarm sounds, you are well out of the way, and it is luring all the zombies to one location. Win Win.
 
 
You can always force the window yourself or smash it; but I find that it is better to wait to week 3 for this part, if you can. That give you time to know the layout of the zombies before you start making nose.
 
 
 

First Week – Mostly Harmless

For the first part of the game, you will find very little if any danger until day 6 of the outbreak. There are zombies and they are everywhere. But, even on apocalypse, they are fairly manageable at this time.
 
 
It is tempting to think of your starter home as your fortress, but do not do it. The spawn points of zombies are fairly random, and you will find that they tend to crowd certain spots. Stay clear of those locations if you want to survive the early outbreak. They can move, so you need ot be flexible in how you handle things.
 
 
Find an area relatively free of zombies to set up shop, it helps to have few windows and a second or third floor. Without cause, zombies don’t tend to move upstairs. Meaning you are fairly safe in a second floor apartment. A perfect spot is the doctors house centrally located in Muldraugh’s spawn points.
 
 
Kitchen, TV, and Bed on the second floor, but I dislike the spot for long term setups because it gets a LOT of zombie traffic. Better pick one of the houses to the south of the doctors clinic. The rich people’s houses with the nice tall fences. if you are willing to use exploits, you can easily fortify the entire neighborhood to keep out zombies. Regardless, I have found that they just don’t get much zombie traffic. So it’s the best place to setup in 41.
 
 
If you are using the unmodified game and the standard start, it is almost always to your south. Down to the Left on the screen. You might not start north of it, but then you will almost certainly start next to it or inside it.
 
 
Day one: Just Keep Walking
 
Get a water bottle or drink a pop bottle and fill it with water. This is important for your first step. Sinks and bathtubs are common, but going into houses, especially early on, is risky. So it is best to just avoid it.
 
 
Find out a safe spot to bed up for a couple of days. This will be important to have by day 6. Sound and Light are your enemy. Turn off EVERYTHING!. Porch and Patio lights, tvs and radios. Don’t loot the batteries, just turn them off.
 
 
Get a couple of books and magazines that deal with unhappiness. You don’t need that many and they are probably available in your safe haven. They usually are. Just make sure you have several, as you will be spending a couple of days inside. A radio and TV also help, but make sure the volume is turned down. IF you have some spare time, grab CD’s and VHS’s to stash in there to pass the time even better. But that is a low priority. (Note: Deaf people can enjoy TV)
 
 
If you are obese, a soda bottle will be enough to keep you from starving on day 1.
 
 
Day 2- A bag and a gun
 
Actually, don’t get a gun, but you want to focus on getting a good weapon. Axes and crowbars seem to be the weapons of choice, if you can find one.
 
 
Any heavy, bludgeoning object will do in a pinch.
 
 
Swords and knives are the weakest weapons in the game. Well, I guess forks are worse, but I don’t use silverware.
 
 
If you get a knife and a tree branch, from foraging, you can craft spears. This is the single best, guaranteed weapon in the early game. Spears are powerful for their availability.
 
 
Then, all you need is to gather yourself a bag to carry your loot. If you must, you can get a trashbag, but you should be able to kill a nearby zombie with a backpack or duffelbag. A good bag is very important for moving loot.
 
 
Day 2.5- Clear some space
 
 
Get a weapon and start killing. An experienced player can probably solo 5-6 zombies with a spear, but focus on dealing with them one at a time. Spend a day or two making sure your sleeping spot doesn’t have neighbors. Also turn off all the lights and noise makers around your house. Noise is bad, light is bad. If you turn off every light and noise maker in your 200×200 tile piece of space, the zombies will tend to stay away.
 
 
Better yet, trigger a house/car alarm in two or three spots FAR away from your house. Don’t do this unless you are confident you wont get grabbed in the process. If you can do it, it will allow you to safely clear out all the houses around your hideout.
 
 
Day’s 3 – 5 : Gather produce and entertainment
 
Fill up your freezer with frozens and fill up your refrigerator with vegies. Freezers freeze everythin and keep it fresh, if they have the power. This is the best way to have good food.
 
 
DO NOT MOVE CANS OF FOOD. They are heavy and everywhere. Carry a can opener in your bag and you can grab a bite to eat from EVERY house in the game. Regardless of where you are.
 
 
Stockpiling cans in your ‘fortress’ is a newbie mistake. If it gets overwhelmed, all the nonperishable food in a large piece of land just got lost. Remember, you are overweight, you can afford to go hungry more than a lightweight guy. Get short term supplies into your hiedout, but don’t even stockpile skill books. It doesn’t matter yet.
 
 
Entertainment is urgently needed.
 
 

But how do I move around?!?!

 
Just keep walking.
 
 
Seriously, just walk slow and steady. This is your best activity for Day 1, with a full days power walk, you can clear out the entire 300×300 cell around your hideout of zombies.
 
 
You won’t be able to kill them, just get them lost in the woods.
 
 
Zombies get lost in the woods faster than you.
 
 
Rinse and repeat until there are no hordes. Then go into your hideout.
 
 
Note: If you start in a rich person house. There will be tall wooden fences surrounding your home. There is one tiny house that also has tall wooden fences, but it is the only one. If you are there, you can focus on just skipping day 1 and getting a weapon and killing asap.
 
 
Day 1 assumes you start fairly far from the rich neighborhood and you have to travel on foot. Learning to dump a horde in a forest is fairly easy. Walk into the forest and count to 60 or 120, then loop around, not a tight turn, as the horde is still behind you, and exit the woods. There is a forest path that loops around to near my favorite house in the rich neighborhood. So you can exit the forest safely.
 
Fill up your freezer with frozens and fill up your refrigerator with vegies. Freezers freeze everythin and keep it fresh, if they have the power. This is the best way to have good food.
 
 
DO NOT MOVE CANS OF FOOD. They are heavy and everywhere. Carry a can opener in your bag and you can grab a bite to eat from EVERY house in the game. Regardless of where you are.
 
 
Stockpiling cans in your ‘fortress’ is a newbie mistake. If it gets overwhelmed, all the nonperishable food in a large piece of land just got lost. Remember, you are overweight, you can afford to go hungry more than a lightweight guy. Get short term supplies into your hiedout, but don’t even stockpile skill books. It doesn’t matter yet.
 
 
Entertainment is urgently needed.
 
 

But how do I move around?!?!

 
Just keep walking.
 
 
Seriously, just walk slow and steady. This is your best activity for Day 1, with a full days power walk, you can clear out the entire 300×300 cell around your hideout of zombies.
 
 
You won’t be able to kill them, just get them lost in the woods.
 
 
Zombies get lost in the woods faster than you.
 
 
Rinse and repeat until there are no hordes. Then go into your hideout.
 
 
Note: If you start in a rich person house. There will be tall wooden fences surrounding your home. There is one tiny house that also has tall wooden fences, but it is the only one. If you are there, you can focus on just skipping day 1 and getting a weapon and killing asap.
 
 
Day 1 assumes you start fairly far from the rich neighborhood and you have to travel on foot. Learning to dump a horde in a forest is fairly easy. Walk into the forest and count to 60 or 120, then loop around, not a tight turn, as the horde is still behind you, and exit the woods. There is a forest path that loops around to near my favorite house in the rich neighborhood. So you can exit the forest safely.
 
 
 

7/15 – Day 6 of Survival

Between Day 6 and Day 9 the helicopter will come. If you study the game, you will learn how to anticipate it’s arrival using the emergency broadcast system.
 
 
If you stay home, inside, reading books, listening to music on earbuds and exercising. You should emerge safely from day 9 with no zombies and no helicopter event. Boring and effective. Just tried it out and reached Day 5 of survival with the entire block cleared of zombies. It is reasonably fun, but after you survive the helicopter event there is very little to force you to dig in to a ‘hideout’.
 
 

 
 
Here you can see the path I took in a blue line. I am in the forested area next to the house I personally like. It’s to the right of my location. It is nice because it has no external lights to turn off and most of the windows have curtains, making it almost instantly reading for holding up for a couple of days.
 
 
I would honest upload more images showing the details, but I don’t see any reason to. After you survive the helicopter event, you are functionally done with the basic game. Which is a shame because the world is a huge and interesting one to get lost in.
 
 
Anyway, I died on Day 5, so I lost interest in redo’ing it. I died because I killed four zombies with my bare hands. Pretty freaking epic. Next thing I knew I had to try five and got bitten.
 
 

 
 
I hope you enjoy the Guide we share about Project Zomboid – Basic Survival Mode Guide + Character Creation; if you think we forget to add or we should add more information, please let us know via commenting below! See you soon!