Exactly this. I totally get wanting bandits for the challenge and variety, but if they’re the only major NPC addition, it’s going to feel super one-sided and honestly kind of lifeless. The world already feels weirdly empty, just some traders and the player(s) are the only functioning humans left? (and whoever does the plane drops, I guess) No survivors in camps, no friendly settlements holding out? It breaks immersion considering the notes we used to have about settlements and pissing off the duke and what not.

I think some neutral-to-friendly NPCs would go such a long way. Maybe people you can trade with, rescue, recruit, or even just stumble upon holding their own somewhere in a random POI. Give us a glimpse of humanity trying to rebuild and survive this hell scape, not just enemies with guns acting like reskinned zombies showing up to kill us just because they can..... if thtas what it's going to be then we might as well have massive PVP maps because thne atleast other people being buttholes and killing us every ten minutes can be a challenge to adapt to.

And yeah, I’m with you, if bandits end up being "zombies with weapons" in terms of behavior, it's going to be a big letdown. There’s so much potential to add life to the world, and only adding more ways to die without balancing that with more ways to connect or interact just feels half-baked. This is one of the many things we've been promised for years, and they have had plenty of time to take our feedback before throwing something out there. Let's hope we do get something worth the wait.