God Save Birmingham Is a Medieval Zombie Survival Game Worth Watching—Here’s Why

It’s not every day you see zombies shambling through cobbled streets under the shadow of a medieval cathedral. God Save Birmingham, from Ocean Drive Studio and published by Kakao Games, instantly grabbed my attention because it combines physics-driven survival mechanics with a setting we hardly ever get: 14th-century England. Zombies in a bustling medieval market town? Absolutely, sign me up-skepticism and all.

• Blending physics-based gameplay with survival in an authentic medieval setting
• Distinctive take on the zombie genre-no guns, all makeshift defenses
• Playable for the public at PAX West before anywhere else
• From the studio behind cult tactical RPG Lost Eidolons

The Real Hook: Medieval Mayhem, Not Just Another Zombie Game

The truth is, “zombie survival” has become one of the most crowded genres in gaming. If I see one more post-apocalyptic city or abandoned mall, I’m out. But God Save Birmingham is doing something I haven’t seen before: dropping players into an obsessively detailed 14th-century Birmingham, where modern weapons are nowhere to be found. You’re not mowing down hordes with machine guns-instead, you’re stacking barrels, shoving carts, and scrambling over market stalls while the era’s residents-turned-zombies lurch after you. It’s got strong vibes of games like Project Zomboid and Teardown, but with a historical twist that might be just what the genre needs to wake up again.

Physics-Driven Survival: More Than Just Window Dressing

Plenty of games claim “physics-based gameplay,” but honestly, that usually translates to wobbly ragdoll bodies or the odd collapsing bridge. Here, though, it looks core to how you survive. Trailers show players dragging benches to block tavern doors, hurling sacks of grain at zombie heads, and leaping ditches to trip up pursuers. It’s exactly the kind of emergent chaos that makes stories in games memorable. We’ve seen the potential for this in games like Half-Life 2’s gravity gun puzzles or even Garry’s Mod, but rarely as the backbone of an entire survival system. If Ocean Drive can pull this off without turning it into a janky mess, it’ll stand out in a big way.

Kakao & Ocean Drive: An Unlikely Duo Taking a Swing at the Western Market

If you follow indie games (or tactical RPGs), you might know Ocean Drive Studio from Lost Eidolons. That game had its rough edges but was ambitious and showed the team genuinely cares about their craft—not something you can say about every publisher-backed project. Kakao Games, meanwhile, is massive in Korea but rarely takes risks on offbeat projects for Western audiences. Seeing them back God Save Birmingham makes me wonder if they see real breakout potential here, or if this is a calculated experiment as they expand outside traditional mobile and MMO spaces.

PAX West Hands-On: Make-Or-Break Moment

God Save Birmingham will be playable for the first time at PAX West, and frankly, that’s where we’ll see whether this ambitious premise can survive its own chaos. The physics systems need to feel intuitive but not frustrating, and the setting has to help rather than hinder gameplay. I want to see if the reconstructed 14th-century Birmingham is just pretty window dressing, or if its layout and historical flavor truly affect how you survive. Given the millions of trailer views, there’s clear curiosity—but hands-on sessions will tell us if the hype matches reality or if this is one of those indie darlings that sounds cooler on paper than it plays.

Why the Setting Actually Matters for Gamers

What excites me most is the potential for survival choices we haven’t seen before. Without the usual arsenal of shotguns and chainsaws, players need to make do—think Kingdom Come: Deliverance meets Dead Rising, but everyone’s improvising with whatever medieval junk is lying around. If done right, this could offer a level of tension and creativity missing from zombie games overloaded on firearms. It’s also a chance for some darkly comedic moments; imagine trying to barricade yourself in a stables while a zombie in plague doctor garb gnashes at the window. The historical trappings aren’t just there to look pretty—they could push players into new survival tactics that even long-time fans of the genre haven’t tried.

TL;DR

God Save Birmingham is shaping up to be a refreshingly weird medieval take on the zombie survival formula. The physics-centered mechanics and authentic setting are legit reasons to be curious, but the real test is whether the gameplay can back up the vision. If you’re at PAX West, this is one demo you’ll want to brave—just watch out for the locals. They’re a bit bitey this time of year.