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CM Patch 1.60 is final, it won't undergo any further changes. As there were differences of opinions during development Dmitriy continued his work in the form of his Addendum, which features further fixes and personal alterations. So in short, no. If in the future some agreement is reached there could be a CM Patch v1.70, but that's something that isn't guaranteed to happen. Still, the amount of work made on 1.60 has made it the (in my opinion) most complete iteration of the CM Patch so far. Who knows what the future reserves though...

I'll tell y'all one thing: it's the little things that impress me about this game. I had my base set up: garden, water collectors, compost piles for fertilizer, shelves stocked with canned food. However, I didn't really feel like transitioning from my starter base to my self-made one yet, so I started playing with the cooking mechanics. I was able to make: spaghetti, bacon cheeseburgers, hot ham and cheese sandwiches, coffee, tea, BLT's, just a variety of stuff. It impresses me that the game recognizes that you get more comfort from cooking a meal rather than just cramming ingredients in your mouth. I don't know if y'all have been in any survival types of scenarios, but it doesn't take a stretch of the imagination to believe that a fresh cup of tea improves your mood far better than having to suck on a tea bag (I've been there). Little comforts go along way, man

It's always perma-death. Now, there might be a mod that changes death into like a knock-out scenario, where you lose parts of your skills or inventory or some other penalty, but I'm unaware of those. The only mod I'm rolling with is "Knap a rock", because the game doesn't offer it and that's a skill I've acquired in the real world. The game does have hardcore mode , though. I'm playing with normal conditions, where I start with a baseball bat, hammer, a bottle of water, and chips. Hard mode starts you with just food and water, while hardcore starts you with nothing. In addition, there are different sandbox scenarios. I play in the initial outbreak scenario: zombies are slow, houses are unlooted, and electricity and water are still on. There's the first week scenario, where water and electricity are about to shut off, and houses are unlooted. Six months later scenario has electricity and water off, houses are ransacked, and the zombie horde is large. And then, you have hardcore mode, with a giant horde and death is waiting at every turn. There is also a challenge mode. In one, you only have a day to reach safety. In another, you're defending your cabin in the woods against endless hordes. In another, you have that cabin, but you earn money to upgrade things and skills. There are also a few other challenges, but I haven't played those. If interested, Project Zomboid has a free demo on Steam, but it's not the sandbox survival mode, it's the Last Stand challenge (if I remember correctly). Now, if you like the "man versus nature" type of survival games, I can recommend several; none of them feature zombies. One of them does feature cannibals: The Forest. Subsistence is an escaped convict versus nature and other humans. I know the humans can be shut off, but I don't think the wolves and cougars can be shut off, as that's the main source of meat. My warning there: it's bloody. You see blood splash as you plunge your knife into a wolf, hear the knife cutting through meat and stuff. However, you might be thinking "I like crafting and building, I like hunger and thirst dynamics, but I want it in a scifi setting." My recommendation there: Eden Star. But what if you're thinking "I like building and survival stuff, but I don't like the first person perspective. I want a third person perspective. In addition, I want a squad; nature can be lonely at times." One word there: Kenshi. I also have Survivalist, Judgment: Apocalypse Survival Simulation, Empyrion, Force of Nature, and Conan: Exiles, but I can't recommend them, as I forget why I stopped playing them. Finally, what if you like hunger, thirst, building, and crafting, but don't want such a hardcore experience? What if you want a little more of a relaxed vibe, without a 'smiley, happy, good time animal friends bobbing up and down in unison' type of deal? What if you're tired of "twelve sticks plus twine equals small shelter" type of deal: you want to build your shelter brick/block/rock, and stick at a time? I feel you there, that's how I like to build, rather than choosing a bunch of prefabricated buildings. There's a game I have for that, which is 1/3 building, 1/3 exploration, and 1/3 survival. That would be Rising World. The cool part about that: crops can fail, rot, freeze, and be destroyed by hard rain. You have to dress in accordance with the weather, otherwise disease ensues. There are critters, like bears, cougars, and wolves, that will maul you if you're unprepared. Also, death isn't permanent, but you do lose your items, requiring you to find your body. There are a lot of cool other features: pirates, factions to befriend or alienate. There's an electrical component that's as simple or complex as you want. Then, there's trains and vehicles. The bad part: most of what I've mentioned isn't implemented yet. This is made by a one-man team. While I have total faith that the game will be finished, it's been in early access for four or five years, and updates are slower than cold maple syrup. If this game sounds promising, I'd put it on your watch list and wait for it to finish UNLESS you love building as much as I do. I love city building games, but I dislike the fact that all I can do is place buildings: I want to build them myself. That's where this game shines right now. I've built everything, brick by brick. I have every type of home you can imagine: Modern, castles, Victorian, Georgian, Mediterranean, fantasy types of things that look like wizards live there amidst an enchanted forest, cabins; everything. I have every type of store you can imagine; fast food (like Gilbey's, Kentucky Fried Gilbert, McGilberts), police stations, Gilberticus university, Gilbey's Believe It Or Not (an aquarium), just everything. The bad part there; I don't have them built in survival mode, I've only built them in creative mode and saved them as blueprints. The reason: there's going to be world-breaking updates soonish. Another aspect that some might consider "bad": just because you can build all this stuff doesn't necessarily mean you can have people actually living in them. There's a possibility that when the game's finalized and I lay all of this crap, it's going to be me walking around an empty town. I don't have a problem w that. Now, finally, you might be thinking "Dude, I asked you one freaking question, and I got paragraphs of crap I didn't ask about." If that's the case, sorry I'm trying to be a little more social online, plus, I like to give options. Plus, I'll be real with you: I'm procrastinating cutting a bunch of thundereggs I got in Oregon the other day.

Man, you're making this sound interesting! I'll have to somehow tackle my need to survive (in a game), but your narration is quite mouth watering, despite that little 'zombie' fact. Oh, is this some hardcore mode or is it always a new game after death?

I've never had as much fun as I'm having with this and Rimworld. Now, ya gotta keep in mind that I'm completely burned on arpgs, so that might factor in (wish I would have realized that before I bought the Grim Dawn expansion). I kind of fizzed out on Rimworld. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, but I had to build a whole field of solar panels to fuel one little sunlamp. I'll have to come back to Rimworld later. I contemplated Sheltered, but chose Project Zomboid instead. I was also contemplating Eco, but I'm not a fan of community-based games any more. So few of my friends from the real world play games, and not very many communities are as chill as y'all. I think I might do another run. Hmm, either lumberjack or park ranger.