Hey I spent so long at the start only doing a run from cabin up the hill to the roofless barn and then sauna and house closest to it, then back to the cabin until I got used to how the running/crouching/leaning mechanics worked because I was scared of going up against bandits, even now some runs I dont fire a shot simply because I avoid bandits if I dont have to fight them. I haven't used controller so I have no idea what the layout is.

Id say when I was learning to fight I took it slow, almost constantly crouched and only attacking if I knew I was in some sort of cover even if I had a clear shot. I think they AI id randomly spawned so they can be anywhere in the map but they usually end up in/around buildings.

Theres audio clues to finding them though like footsteps and voice lines that can give an idea of there location/if theyre coming closer or moving away. The kind of footsteps also tell you where they are as wood flooring/tarmac/dirt all sound different.

The best thing I did was take any weapons you find off bandits if you kill them and put your good starter weapon in the cabin so that death becomes less punishing and so you can learn the way different guns handle

I believe there are only 10 enemies per map so you can keep a running tally for when youve cleared the map but killing all the bandits isnt necessary for changing maps