I find my brain extremely happy when a game provides ample opportunity to make connections, like in Dwarf Fortress, where I watch an event unfold, which can stir my creativity and imagination like nothing else. Writing a story out of it is extremely smooth and easy compared to other sandbox games.
I also find myself in love with immersive sims like Desu Ex and Thief, where level design and exploration take a front seat, every map is like a big playground with verticality and branching paths, where you find secrets and lore hidden around every corner in an atmospheric world.
What is immersion to you?
I kinda know what you mean, but I come from Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, not Zomboid. I lost my first character when I was happily siphoning gas from cars. At the same time, I was too relaxed and bumped headfirst into a gang of giant wasps, can’t fight or run because I was carrying a steel jerrycan, RIP. That was a month of work with this character. xD
I keep meaning to get into CDDA, but never get around to it. All I know is it’s highly suggested in the Zomboid community