Graveyard Keeper Review

System: PC, Mac, Linux (Steam OS), XBox One
Players: 1
Rating: T or M, use your judgement (very dark humor involving cannibalism and death, alcohol use, drug references, minor violence)
DLC: Soundtrack and artbook
Website: Graveyard Keeper Official Site

NOTE: Since release day (Aug. 15, 2018), the developer has put out several patches that have adjusted game balance and fixed bugs.This review is being written with those in mind.

I saw a link to this game's website posted a few months ago, and found the game descriptions amusing. The teaser videos and trailer further piqued my interest. I picked up the game on release day, and I've been having a blast with it!

Graveyard Keeper puts you in charge of a dilapidated graveyard in a medieval village. In order to fix it up, you'll need to gather resources, help out villagers, and advance through several tech trees to gain access to more valuable items and resources. Eventually, you'll also be able to fish, farm, mine, fight, and pray your way to more money and items.

The game's pixel graphics are beautiful. Plants sway in the breeze, your character leaves footprints in soft dirt and mud, and thick fog can roll in to make things creepy. The music and sound are great, too. Important villagers each have their own unique idle animations and voice grunts for dialogue. The music never feels out of place, and it doesn't grate on your ears, either.

The humor in Graveyard Keeper is definitely not for everyone. For example, the villagers don't believe in slaughtering livestock, so meat is a rare delicacy. And there was also an "incident" involving "inappropriate" meat a while back, so now people can't sell meat unless it has a royal stamp of approval. Well, you just happen to know where to get some tasty-looking meat, and the tavern owner just happens to know how you can get your own royal stamp.

It's up to you if you want to get that stamp legitimately, or illegally!

As for the gameplay, it's a bit of a mixed bag. The game can be relaxing and fun, and doesn't hold your hand for everything. The usual researching, exploring, and resource gathering are great, and the game allows you to do things at your own pace. Unlocking recipes and progressing through the game's tech trees is very satisfying, too. However, there are times when the game gets frustrating because it doesn't explain things enough, or punishes you for doing something it told you to do.

The tech trees, while fun and not overly complicated, can still get confusing, especially when tied to villager requests. For example, unlocking Stoneworking (a very early tech) gives you the recipe for Stone Repair Kits. These kits require clay, but the game gives you no indication of how to get clay. Nothing in the tech tree hints at it, and villagers won't tell you anything. Examining clay mining spots simply tells you you're missing a tech. Only after you've completed a certain task for the church bishop do you get the ability to collect clay.

Some techs and items are dependent on each other, but you can't always tell what is and what isn't. I learned this the hard way. I decided to buy a tech that would allow me to make flyers for a villager who requested them. Unfortunately, I didn't have the resources to craft the flyers, or the crating stations to make those resources. And, due to a (now patched) bug, I couldn't buy the resources because an important villager never showed up to trigger a related quest. So, I started over and played a lot more carefully.

Another gripe I have is with collecting certain resources. While most go into your inventory when you collect them, there are some "large" items (e.g. logs, stone slabs) you'll need to haul to an appropriate stockpile before you can use them. But, you can only hold one at a time, and don't have access to a cart, wagon, or any sort of inventory or strength upgrade. Your stockpiles have limited space, as well, so you're going to have to haul large items on a regular basis. You can pile up a bunch of these items on the ground and push them around; but, if the items aren't lined up properly, they'll jiggle around and get knocked away, meaning you have to go back and push them forward again.

Graveyard Keeper certainly isn't a bad game, but it could use some adjustments. Despite some of its issues, I've been having a lot of fun with it and find $20 to be a reasonable price.