Why the Developers Behind God Save Birmingham Are Perfectly Happy With Comparisons to 'Scam' Game The Day Before

Medieval zombie survival game God Save Birmingham made a dramatic entrance in April with an 8-minute "gameplay" trailer that stirred equal parts disbelief and enthusiasm. Amid jokes about its Birmingham setting, many questioned whether the game looked too polished to be real, with animations suggesting the footage wasn’t actual gameplay but rather pre-rendered cinematic content meant to mislead players.

Perhaps the most damaging comparison came from those who likened God Save Birmingham to the infamous The Day Before, labeling it a "fake game" and even a "scam." For those unfamiliar, The Day Before was one of the most notorious and disastrous game launches in recent history—marketed as the "next generation of post-apocalyptic MMO open-world survival games"—it launched as a barebones, unstable extraction shooter. The game earned an almost impossibly rare 1/10 in IGN's review, and its shutdown was announced just four days after it launched in Early Access.

Following the viral spread of God Save Birmingham’s April video, Korean publisher Kakao Games and developer Ocean Drive unveiled a demo at PAX East and released a new gameplay video offering a more grounded look at the game’s current development stage. This updated footage has helped counter the narrative built by the game’s explosive April promo. Still, the "scam game" label tied to The Day Before continues to linger.

With that context in mind, I spoke with Ocean Drive CEO and founder Jae Kim, along with head of publishing Jungsoo Lee, to explore whether God Save Birmingham can overcome the shadow of The Day Before. Surprisingly, both appeared entirely comfortable with the comparison. Keep reading to discover why.