Graveyard Keeper

Graveyard Keeper is a sandbox RPG with strategy game features. It was released on PC and XONE and developed by Lazy Bear Games, a studio that created Punch Club.

Plot

The game focuses on a topic that is rarely seen in video games. It enables the player to assume the role of an owner of a graveyard. The “business” is located in a typical fantasy realm that is filled with monsters and various magical dangers. Because of that, there are many clients interested in the player’s service.

The creators did not attempt to create a serious scenario. The story is filled with dark humor and it frequently ridicules typical fantasy tropes.

Mechanics

Graveyard Keeper for PC and XONE enables the player to run his own business. However, the game doesn’t become an economic strategy, but a role-playing title. The owner of the graveyard is a specific character that is controlled directly when exploring the world, moving bodies, digging graves and organizing funerals. The player must do almost everything personally, but at the same time he needs to frequently make business-related decisions.

Burying the bodies isn’t very profitable and the costs are quickly increasing. The player must look for valuable resources that are used to construct useful items and upgrade the graveyard. The most profitable and most dangerous are trips to the undergrounds that are filled with monsters. The player can use many alternative ways of increasing his profits. He can organize witch burning festivals or he can cooperate with the local church that will pay for scaring the citizens so that they go to the church more frequently.

The developers provided players with great freedom when it comes to cost optimization. For example, instead of buying expensive meat, the player can make hot dogs out of corpses and sell them next to the graveyard. He can also sell body parts and blood. To reduce costs, one can throw remains into the river and organize fake funerals.

Technical aspects

Graveyard Keeper for PC and XONE offers retro graphics filled with large pixels. The developers decided to use cartoonish style. This diminishes the grimness of the game a little and corresponds well with the comedy style of the title.

Last updated on 14 August 2019