you werent kidding about stuff being scarce..but luckily i have played The Last of Us on grounded mode so I'm used to it. Makes it a little more intense.
Also you can ignore most of the enemies in TLOU. Not sure if that possible in this game.
There are quite a few "kill room" encounters in the game that blocks progress until you kill everyone or just that specific one that has the key, but there are also a roughly even number of encounters where you can just run away if you want- this includes boss fights.
Some tricks if you have more resource than bullets-
1) Fire Body traps - If you light an enemy on the ground on fire, at the moment of ignition other very nearby enemies would also catch fire killing them. This is a bit risky and wonky though. Note that enemies don't catch fire if they walk through them, only at the point of ignition.
2) Throwing Bottles - If you have a good aim, throwing a bottle at the enemy's face would stagger them for a few seconds, allowing you to run up to them and ENTER STEALTH MODE to perform a stealth kill. It is very important that you remember to enter stealth mode or you'll just end up doing a normal melee.
3) Agony bolts - Flash and harpoon are the cheapest to make, I would pick an upgraded flash that gives you the potential to stealth kill 3 guys vs the harpoon that kills only 1. Also you can plant explosive bolts as traps, you can also remove them if they didn't trigger.