When I sat down for my preview ofGod Save Birminghamat the Boston Convention Center for PAX East 2025, I had no idea what to expect. I knew absolutely nothing about this indie survival game except for the fact that it had zombies in it. I was tipped off by one of our guide writers,Joe Grantham, to keep an eye on it on the show floor since he’d heard chatter about it.
And after playingGod Save Birminghamfor about 20 minutes, I walked away feeling confused as to what the point of the entire game is and how players will feel rewarded or satisfied with the gameplay loop that was presented to me. I started the demo waking up in a tiny room in a highly detailed 14th-century medieval village, but of course, there aretons of zombieslurking around. Andtonsis no exaggeration. From what I can tell, there are literally zero humans besides yourself in the town, and each step you take is a step closer to becoming dinner for one of the hundreds of blood-thirsty zombies.
[The version of God Save Birmingham we played is a Pre-Alpha build and not the early access build that’s planned to launch soon.]
God Save Birmingham - Hands-On Impressions
I was let loose to wander and explore the town and basically just survive for as long as I could. This wasn’t easy to do. It took me quite some time to even realize how to equip a weapon to fend off foes, and I use the term ‘weapon’ rather loosely. I found a rusted farming tool to poke at them slowly, but it takes forever to actually kill a zombie.
There were also other items I could pick up around the village and inside homes that one would think could be used as a weapon. Still, for some odd reason, most of them could not be equipped to my person, which led to me being confused about what was considered a weapon and what was just useless inventory fodder.
I was fumbling around the village, not sure what my goal was. I looked at the mini-map and saw some icons around town, like a Well (you’ll need water to survive), and one for a church. Since it seems like there’s not much else to discover in the town besides the random assortment of items and, well, zombies, my main goal was to head inside the base of the church to see if there was something I could use to keep the zombies at bay. Still, my goal was never realized, as I probably died to the zombies at least 5–10 times, as they all gathered around to snack on my body. I couldn’t even make it through the Church’s entrance.
God Save Birmingham’s physics systems make it so that you cantryand escape from zombies grabbing you by basically flailing around and shoving them away. Still, it’s pretty impossible to escape if there are too many at once. Once I died, I just woke up in the same little shack in town and had to find a weapon over again. Apparently, the village has some rare weapons and armor to find to keep your character strong, but I had a lot of trouble finding anything like that (maybe it’s in the church).
The development team ofGod Save Birmingham, Ocean Drive Studio, have said that once the early access version of the game comes out (no release date just yet), it will focus onthis sandbox mode, and that the eventual full release will be four times bigger, thanks to updates. They even promise that the full release will have a more “complete” experience, with a campaign mode (whatever that means).
Even with the promise of a proper campaign, I don’t imagine how enjoyableGod Save Birminghamwill be. Right now, it feels way too bare-bones, even in the Pre-Alpha state. Being sent to a town and surviving as long as possible didn’t scratch an itch for me during my gameplay session, but we’ll see how it shapes up once the early access launch rolls around.
