Graveyard Keeper Review in Progress (PC)
Developer: Lazy Bear Games
Publisher: tinyBuild
Disclosure: This review is based off of a review copy.
Graveyard Keeper is a game that I hadn’t heard about until earlier this year when the alpha was released. Although I never played the alpha version, the buzz about this game started to rise and could not be avoided. Lazy Bear Games, the developer, has created a game that on the surface may appear to be a clone of a game like Stardew Valley, but upon playing you realize the experience is very different in many ways, with sharper graphics, more of a story direction, and most importantly, more things do than just farming.
At the beginning of Graveyard Keeper you find yourself tasked to be in charge of a graveyard in a supernatural world after a tragic event. You are confused, but you start your quest to “find your way home” by completing tasks. Graveyard Keeper has a tech tree and the way you unlock elements of the tech tree is by using resource points that are gained by “literally doing anything” (as the game says). There are three different types of resource points that can be spent in the tech tree, a tech tree that is very deep and gives the player a lot of choice of what to spend on. Some parts of the tech tree aren’t unlocked until later in the game.
In the beginning, you learning how to gather bodies, cut out body parts, bury bodies, and decorate graves, in order to increase your graveyard rating. This is only a slice of the game, as the world Graveyard Yard keeper has many different people to meet, with many tasks to complete. The story even contains some choices the player can make, but the consequences are still unclear to me for where I am in the game. Another element of Graveyard Keeper that is very different is the top left of the screen containing different symbols for each day, which signifies when certain events can happen or when certain people are available to meet or talk to. The game has many different NPC quests with various tasks to complete to advance progress that time management is key in Graveyard Keeper if you want to play the game as efficiently as possible.
15 hours in
After playing the game for roughly 15 hours, there is so much to do that I started my playthrough somewhat inefficiently because I didn’t see certain resource gathering spots and couldn’t figure out how to use certain resource mechanisms until later, oops. I dug myself in a bit of a financial hole, but I am now digging myself out of it as I figure out how everything melds together to move the progress of the game forward quicker, Although the game is enjoyable, there is so much to do that I put off certain things in order to do other things as I preferred. The opening of the church was something I didn’t do until late, which I regret, but this is one of the most interesting things about the game. The one thing that I don’t like about the game is how so many areas are blocked off that need to be cleared, a bit too excessive to me. Having said that, I am deep into carpentry, preaching in the church, and figuring out where to gather or buy resources to move myself forward. Maybe it is because I was a little late opening the church, but the supernatural resource (purple) is almost too scarce in the beginning that I feel this needs to be tweaked. I don’t have too many bad things to say about Graveyard Keeper because there is so much to do, the sounds are good, and most importantly, the game is addicting and very difficult to put down.
Depending how far I am into the game and my experience with it, I expect my next review to be the full review, unless I need to do another “Review in Progress” report.
