Yeah I really like Zomboid because no matter how established you are, it only takes one fuck-up or unlucky break and you're done for. So the fear never really lets up.
I actually had an experience in that game that I don't think I've ever had in a game before - I was sneaking around at night looting houses, and I got to one house, perfectly normal looking and some instinct in my brain went "nope, there's something bad there" and I just walked away and went home lol.