The two games that give me the biggest zero to hero experiences are Kenshi and Morrowind.

Morrowind’s combat is dice roll based and more about imagination. Your attacks will look like they connect but actually miss, you just have to immerse yourself and understand your stats are too low and your character is too inexperienced to use that weapon properly, like in real life.

Kenshi is a brutal simulator. Most things want to kill you and it takes sweat and blood both in-game and irl to become a badass, and even when you hit that point, it takes on bad slip- and you’ll fade away in the blink of an eye.

Fallout 4 on survival and with additional hardcore mods can definitely make you feel like you’re struggling to get by as well, same goes for Skyrim, but the stories don’t reflect being a zero to hero.

I’ve also heard Outward makes you feel like a zero to hero, but with good combat and gameplay, I’ve not played it myself but it’s on my wishlist.