Last Updated on Oct 28, 2025 @ 14:23:45 PM.
God Save Birmingham seemed to come from out of nowhere, with a quick reveal that left people wondering what was going on, when it would release, and why Birmingham? After sitting down with Creative Director Hyeonseong Cha and Content Manager Guinn Kim at Gamescom 2025, we have the answers to at least two of those questions.
“At first, we ideated the capital cities of Europe, like Paris and London, but after some research, we found out that those cities were already too big in the Middle Ages, so we thought it was a bit too much to make. It’s a famous city that’s still in use today, but in the Middle Ages, it was a small city, so we started looking for a new one. While we were looking for one, the viewers and the writers from the Birmingham Museum helped us a lot and inspired us a lot, so we finally chose Birmingham.”
During the interview, Hyeonseong Cha was showing me the proverbial ropes, explaining the environments and the benefits of Birmingham over the aforementioned Paris and London from a gameplay point of view for God Save Birmingham. It seemed an appropriate time to ask whether other cities were discarded for other reasons:
“So another candidate was Venice. But there were certain difficulties because it was still quite a big city back then and then it being built on canals, its layout was going to be a lot more difficult for the team to manage so we ended up choosing Bremen. The gameplay would be completely changed because of the water. There was no Cologne in the candidate list at the time, but now that I’ve seen Cologne, I think it would have been better to look at this place more seriously.”
As someone who has spent a considerable amount of time in Birmingham and is familiar with the city’s history, it’s easy to see why the developers ultimately chose the city. Still, the prospect of a zombie survival game set in/on the canals of Venice, or the architecture of Cologne, feels like a missed opportunity. God Save Birmingham? God Save Venice sounds much more exotic.
For more Thumb Wars, why not check out our review of Hell is Us, or how Hideo Kojima strives for realism, even in the outlandish Death Stranding 2.
Luke Addison is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Thumb Wars. Having previously been a part of multiple outlets over the years, including building an entire gaming team from nothing to something, he thought it best to forge his own path and answer only to himself. As likely to be found playing the latest game as he is in the kitchen relaxing (by cooking), he always brings the same bold and brash attitude to everything he does, with a heavy leaning on sarcasm and dry wit!
