If you look at the reviews, you will see many people who have played this game for MANY years coming out and saying it's not worth it. And they are right. Please look for reviews more knowledgeable on the history than me (mekanimal has an amazing review https://steamproxy.com/profiles/76561198061355838/ and Ghost https://steamproxy.com/id/freethemind/)

I bought this game on December 4th, 2014. I would have been 13. I'm 23 now. And the game looks EXACTLY the same as I remember it all of those years ago, but honestly some things about it are worse.

I paid $40 for a 2-pack when I bought it. They are now selling this for $45!?!?!? This game is ABSOLUTELY NOT worth $45. This is the biggest reason I am writing this review. Sure, you can sink a lot of hours into it like me, but only if you're super easy to entertain and can do semi-repetitive tasks like me. And honestly, the game feels like it has less to offer than it used to.

They used to have random-gen worlds, but now you're forced to only play on the preset map Navezgane, which really isn't that big. Zombies are the exact same as I remember them, and only a handful of new models have been added in the decade it has come out. Sure, they may have cleaned the models up, but that's it.
There's been a lot of absolutely pointless feature changes and removals:
crops no longer harvestable by E
screwing with the horde mechanics
adding and removing a meat-block mechanic (world-war Z-esque so they could climb up meat)
alltogether removing empty bottles and the ability to drink from rivers, which literally just makes them obstacles. You can no longer collect water from ANY water source and you are forced to LOOT WATER.

Sure, they've added some more items and content like electricity, but that's really about it. They ♥♥♥♥♥♥ with food and water mechanics.

The game is touted as a "Zombie Building Survival". However, that "survival" part has become as lot less fun IMO due to the mindless mechanical changes to thirst, hunger, and how to get water and food. You're effectively forced to loot for sustenance now, so you can't even dedicate time to base building until you've looted enough ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ food and water to survive in the first place. It is actual ass if you at all want to build a base early.

Is it fun? Sure, if you're easy to entertain like me. But I do NOT think that this game is worth $45. This is ludicrous. The community has had contempt for the development team for years both because of the stagnation of the game and the ridiculous greed of the developers.

Do I recommend buying this game? Only if you have $45 dollars to waste and want a semi-interesing zombie crafting survival experience.

I'll edit this if I remember anything more to say.