B42 - Putting the horror back in Zomboid

I imagine this post will get lost as the community is fired up right now.

But sharing my thoughts on B42, I feel like I'm going through those early hours of playing PZ all over again.

Playing PZ for the first time, some 1,700 hours ago, I remember it hitting me that this was the genuine zombie experience I'd been looking for. As someone who saw Night of the Living Dead when I far too young and thus was scarred for life by it (but also began a lifelong obsession with zombies), this game just captured that feeling of pure terror. Trapped in a house, zombies pounding on the door, smashing through the windows, and that desperate fight for survival as you try and hold them off.

Before the release of B42, I was at the point where I was pushing the zombie population up for the challenge and being able to calmly wipe out hundreds of zombies in my first few hours - the only real issue being a swing and a miss that resulted in a bite.

But now with the muscle strain and the beautiful new lighting system adding some more atmosphere, it has, for me at least, recaptured those early hours of dread and panic. I've had to drop the population to normal and now just a few zombies can pose something of a challenge again. I've even had my character spawn with a starter kit, something I never do, as finding weapons and bags seems to be a challenge in of itself. This is even on the standard Rare setting for loot. In my old game I'd put loot at a mix of Extremely Rare or Insanely Rare and would get along OK.

Even though I've barely scratched the surface of B42, I'm very happy with what I've played so far. After playing last night I had my first zombie nightmare I've had in years - you know the one. Trapped in farm house, they're breaking and coming up the stairs and you can't move fast enough to get away. Thanks TIS for making me feel like that 8 year old kid again.

Edit: spelling