Yes (I made this post at around 2 am 😭)
Also, at the beginning I think it would be cool if Clarke was in cool, maxed out gear from the first game
But since the first game was a couple months ago, all of that stuff has degraded over time
And when Clarke reaches the upper peninsula, all of his stuff starts breaking
He loses all of his weapons and armor, even his flashlight
He finds a bow, quiver, and a knife from a frozen corpse, and that's his starting gear