No weekend plans? This medieval zombie survival game has a free playtest

God Save Birmingham is still in development and is expected to enter Early Access soon. Following a closed test with more than 1,000 participants, Ocean Drive Studio is now opening the doors to a large-scale public playtest that anyone can join. The game is free to try until Monday, November 9.

God Save Birmingham is an open-ended survival sandbox without a traditional story mode. Players must survive against hungry undead in medieval Birmingham while also finding food, clean water and a safe place to sleep. Combat primarily revolves around melee weapons, including medieval weaponry and improvised tools. For the first time, the game also features co-op for up to four players, although this mode is still in an early alpha stage.

Unusual physics – watch your step

Besides its setting, the game's standout feature is its physics system. According to the developers, nearly every object can be moved or put to use in some way. A dining table, for example, can be pushed in front of a door to serve as a barricade, while a rolling barrel can be used as a weapon against zombies. However, the physics system can also work against players. Trip over something and you might lose your weapon. A poorly judged jump could even leave you with a broken leg.

Judging by the Steam discussions, not everything is running smoothly just yet. One player complains that the constant search for food leaves barely any time for exploration and crafting. Another reports finding zombies inside a shelter that had previously been completely secured. Whether this was caused by an enemy spawning bug or the undead managed to get inside some other way remains unclear. There are also isolated reports of co-op issues, including zombies failing to appear on private servers and attacks not working properly. Given that the game is still in beta, however, these shortcomings are fairly understandable.