https://store.steampowered.com/app/108600/Project_Zomboid/ I'm pretty much addicted to this game right now. It's almost like the story of Star Citizen, but the devs actually have a release worthy project right now if they wanted to. It also has a very big mod community. PZ has been in development for about a decade and is still in early access. About a year ago, they released multiplayer for it and it became one of Steam's most played games. The game takes place in Kentucky in 1993. By default, you start the game 3 days after the zombie apocalypse starts. It can be changed which will make the game experience different, as you'll have less time to prepare for the impending electric/water shut off. The game is extremely punishing on new players. Even the tutorial tells you that you'll die and actually humorously puts you into an impossible situation at the end of the tutorial. If you get bitten, that's basically the end of the game for you since you are now infected (there is no cure). You won't die immediately, but rather in a few days. This gives you time to prepare in ways you see fit. The game is extremely in depth in every aspect. Getting a car, for example. If you're lucky, you will find a car, search the glove compartment and find the key. You'll be double lucky if the car is still in good condition and still has gas. If you're not as lucky, maybe you created a character that's a burglar so you could smash the window and hotwire the car. Or another case, you kill the nearby group of zombies and one of them happened to be the owner of the car and had the keys on them. To keep the car long term, you'll have to maintain it. The car will deteriorate over time and you'll have to replace/repair parts. PZ is extremely deep in all aspects that you can even turn off zombies and it would still be a game, a survival game. You'll have to eat, drink, maintain weight, survive winter, etc.
The world remains the same, your character is just brand new. If you remember where you died, you can run back to that area and kill your now zombified corpse and get all of your belongings back. The base you were building also remains how it was.