Game State character freeze issue

Hi folks,

As soon as I override my Game State (child BP of game state actor (not game state base) with one extra variable of type byte for total keys collected) in World Settings. If I run the game in the editor, my character just freezes and I can’t move it - it doesn’t even animate idly either. I changed it back to the original game state of the third person character template and it still freezes and ignores input. The game is still running and not freezing due to the clouds moving in the background.

What am I doing wrong?

Engine version: UE5.0.3