Graveyard Keeper

 PC
User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 169 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 108 out of 169
  2. Mixed: 33 out of 169
  3. Negative: 28 out of 169

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. ireviewbadgames
    Aug 22, 2018
    1
    They say "Graveyard Keeper" is the "No Man's Sky" version of "Stardew Valley" and unfortunately that seems to be an accurate statement. What we have is an unfinished, buggy grind of a game that is so monotonous and boring you may as well become a real gravedigger. At least you'll be making money instead of tossing your hard-earned cash into a fire to pick up this underwhelming title.They say "Graveyard Keeper" is the "No Man's Sky" version of "Stardew Valley" and unfortunately that seems to be an accurate statement. What we have is an unfinished, buggy grind of a game that is so monotonous and boring you may as well become a real gravedigger. At least you'll be making money instead of tossing your hard-earned cash into a fire to pick up this underwhelming title.

    I'll first start with positives. . . well, "Graveyard Keeper" does indeed have a unique premise that commands great potential had the developers put effort and thought into it. The art is actually relatively well done, both pleasant to look at and easy on the eyes.

    Now, let's talk about this game's bread and butter: being a repetitive, tedious grind. The developers are the same as the one's who made Punch Club, so you already know their specialty in the gaming industry is helping the player waste as much time as possible while accomplishing almost nothing. Well folks, these industry titans have done it again! You'll spend hours of your hobbling from errand to errand, just to maintain your little estate. They've even included waiting for things to finish- That's right, you can sit back, put those weary hands behind your head and watch as your character stands there mindlessly like a zombie. Quite fitting.

    We have missing content, two unfinished locations that have been unavailable from the game's alpha. The grisly writing on the wall says these dirty devs plan on churning out paid DLC for you to have the honor of entering these areas that you know exist, but can't enter in the base game. This especially adds insult to injury when you consider the lack of content issue that already exists.

    The story is linear, poorly devised and relies on waiting in places and hoping for quest NPCs to show up. If you have high hopes for an exciting plot filled with moral quandaries, then look elsewhere. Had the ending of the game been worthwhile, perhaps "Graveyard Keeper" could be saved, but. . . I think you and I both know that's not what happened.

    Don't let the good reviews sway you, just take a look at them- even they admit the same flaws I've listed. . . they just surpassed the 2 hour refund mark and have to live with buyer's remorse. At the end of the day, if you like Stardew Valley. . . don't buy this game. Just go back to Stardew Valley. If you like grinding games, look elsewhere. There's better titles.

    This game has one foot in the grave and if the developers don't listen to feedback and make drastic changes and add a substantial amount of free content (no paid DLC for an unfinished game please) then we can close the casket and bury this dead horse.    … Expand
  2. djvampyre
    Jan 6, 2020
    2
    This game is quite obviously a rushed unfinished attempt to capitalize on stardew valley's success. Sadly it lacks the polish Stardew had on release. Instead of SV's amazing soundtrack with some 30 different and well crafted songs you get ... One... that's right just one song on loop the entire game. Completely rips off stardew valley farming bit for bit. You will be doing way more farmingThis game is quite obviously a rushed unfinished attempt to capitalize on stardew valley's success. Sadly it lacks the polish Stardew had on release. Instead of SV's amazing soundtrack with some 30 different and well crafted songs you get ... One... that's right just one song on loop the entire game. Completely rips off stardew valley farming bit for bit. You will be doing way more farming than graveyard keeping in this game. The graveyard is a complete afterthought here.

    Gone are the meaningful relationships with the townsfolk as well. The dialogue written for them is very short and in most cases story lines are STILL unfinished after selling 2 DLC releases at 35$ for the full (unfinished) game now on steam. Latest DLC finally adds dialogue to a few characters so they can give you tedious fetch quests. The tavern in this game is totally pointless unless you just like to make more money for no particular reason whatsoever while you watch your tavern guests aimlessly walk around saying "get out of my way" lol seriously lazy programming just getting this out the door as fast a possible to get rich on that SV nostalgia.

    Seriously a shameless cash grab. Take a pass on this one unless you want to endlessly grind things for no reward at the end. Still completely unfinished concept and not very well though out.    … Expand
  3. Marclun
    Sep 17, 2018
    2
    A lot of people described Graveyard Keeper like a "macabre" Stardew Valley. Well, after playing 10 hours of Graveyard Keeper I returned to Stardew Valley one year later of my last game. Because I couldn't stand the tedious and silly grinding and energy mechanic during hours without any accomplishment in Graveyard Keeper, is frustrating. I work 10 hours a day, and I don't want to have theA lot of people described Graveyard Keeper like a "macabre" Stardew Valley. Well, after playing 10 hours of Graveyard Keeper I returned to Stardew Valley one year later of my last game. Because I couldn't stand the tedious and silly grinding and energy mechanic during hours without any accomplishment in Graveyard Keeper, is frustrating. I work 10 hours a day, and I don't want to have the same sensations playing a video game. It's sad because, with better mechanics, Graveyard Keeper could've been the best game in his genre.… Expand
  4. Reon
    Oct 31, 2021
    2
    "Gate Keeper" Review

    Good: Decent retro graphics as in it doesn't use any cheap rotation effects but instead actually has frames for things like swinging an axe instead of rotating a static png. The music while decent only really allows you to listen to 1 song 90% of the time. Bad: Moving the goal post for nearly every quest. Every time the game tells you to do something for    "Gate Keeper" Review

    Good:
    Decent retro graphics as in it doesn't use any cheap rotation effects but instead actually has frames for things like swinging an axe instead of rotating a static png.
    The music while decent only really allows you to listen to 1 song 90% of the time.

    Bad:
    Moving the goal post for nearly every quest. Every time the game tells you to do something for someone, you expect to get the reward you were promised but not in Graveyard Keeper. Take getting the stamp as an example, you have to do like a dozen quests with gated requirements tied to the tech tree. 40 hours in and I still have stacks of meat waiting to be stamped so that I can sell them... The progression is absolutely terrible, the reward for giving someone what they want is them asking for more things. I've done 3 quests for snake and he has offered NOTHING in in return but rather wants me to do MORE for him. No meat stamp, not even a HINT of the location of Charmies necklace, but rather "HEY I WANT MORE". Just look at the stupid skull gary, he asks for beer, then wine, then cognac but offers NOTHING in return but vague "I think u might find something if u talk to so and so". I'm about to open a Tavern but yet to get the meat stamp to sell meat, so dumb.
    The economy is hilarious, you can only sell things to the people that produce them? Why the hell would the guy who lives on a quarry want to buy stone from me when he can get it for free? Same thing with crops and wood when it should be the exact opposite, the dude with a garden full of carrots... Wants to buy more carrots? Pepega developers...

    Overall:
    Game is fun at first but the terrible progression, moving of goal posts, lack of rewards, arbitrary tech tree unlocks, constant gating, etc completely ruin it.    … Expand
  5. FreedomEagle69
    Oct 29, 2021
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Haven't played it recently but on release you had to grind soooo much to get enough money for one of the quests that you were forced to grind for like tens of hours. The best way to make money in the game is to sell vegetables so you have to tend to your garden (now they fixed it but when I played you had to click on a tile, find fertilizer in eq, find seed in eq, repeat for like 30 tiles) then build boxes for your veggies (hold F for like a minute) and when you have your boxes built, drag them through a tunnel to town, 1 by 1... 5 boxes a day... Well, 10, actually, because the game would let you cheat a little if you planted another 5 boxes after 5 boxes were sold. Hours spent on just this mindless nonsense and for what? A boring 30s ending, not even a cinematic just a cutscene... Sad.… Expand
  6. KnightRighter
    Aug 25, 2018
    1
    An otherwise great game is marred by a staggeringly stupid mechanic: Energy.

    Energy is expended every time you take an action. Swing an axe, pick, sword... Repair a tool... Craft an item. The biggest flaw: it only recharges if you sleep, or eat food—which in the early game is a pain in the ass to make. Battling baddies in the forest? Once you're out of energy in the early game,    An otherwise great game is marred by a staggeringly stupid mechanic: Energy.

    Energy is expended every time you take an action. Swing an axe, pick, sword... Repair a tool... Craft an item. The biggest flaw: it only recharges if you sleep, or eat food—which in the early game is a pain in the ass to make.

    Battling baddies in the forest? Once you're out of energy in the early game, you'll have to walk all the way back to your house to sleep. It's surprising that nobody during testing said "Hey. Isn't it kind of dumb that you can't swing a sword anymore, but you're perfectly able to walk a quarter mile back to the house to sleep?" Or even better "Why on earth did anyone think making someone sleep would make for a fun game?"

    I fully understand the purpose of the energy mechanic. But the execution is miserable.

    I'm hoping the developer either makes it auto-regenerate—and not at a slow pace, either. Or renames the game "Chores: The Game."

    Hopefully it's the former. They'll make a lot more money.    … Expand
  7. Damian94
    Aug 26, 2018
    1
    Its tedious because there are no quality of life additions.
    You move very slowly on a big map. You can purchase early in the game teleportation stones, so ok there are lots of fast travel points that you can teleport to anytime you want right? Nope, only 2, pretty close to each other, and this **** stone has a cooldown so slow, you are better off just slowly walking where you want. And    Its tedious because there are no quality of life additions.
    You move very slowly on a big map. You can purchase early in the game teleportation stones, so ok there are lots of fast travel points that you can teleport to anytime you want right? Nope, only 2, pretty close to each other, and this **** stone has a cooldown so slow, you are better off just slowly walking where you want. And theres no run button, you can only walk. Also there are 2 stones you can purchase, but dont worry, they share the cooldown, so even though you only used 1 of them, theyr both inactive for 3 minutes.
    You will need to talk to certain characters through the game, but they often spawn on a certain 1 day of 6 days week. there will be situations where they will tell you to bring them something, that you happen to have in a chest in your home, but theres no chance you will be able to make it in time, teleporting to your home and then coming back to them will be too late, so see you in 6 days biatch.
    You cant skip days, you can slowly sleep too regenerate energy, but with full energy your character refuses to fall asleep.
    You have very limited inventory space, you will want to have base items like sword, ax, pickax, shovel, teleportation stone, energy recoveries, and some others, at every time with you, so your little backpack gets even smaller. And there are many items taking items slots a few at graveyard, a few at your farm, a few close to your home, a few you might want to have going to new places. So in order to do anything you have to do everything in order 1 of the time. If you had inventory space you would have to do that anyway because of this stupid stamina system, but later in a game you can make items that restore your stamina better than sleeping.
    Everything in this game is designed to waste your time in a not fun way, the game is either unfinished or intentionally made to be the most tedious and boring game you can buy    … Expand
  8. TenchuuKhan
    Dec 25, 2018
    4
    I'd rate this to be the worst executed game of all time. And yes, I beat it.

    Though the core would be interesting and good with a lot of stuff to do and a clever storyline, it drowns itself in artifical barriers that keep you from progressing all game long. It's not even about it being grindy, it's about the blatant attempt to make the game long winded to the point of it being boring,    I'd rate this to be the worst executed game of all time. And yes, I beat it.

    Though the core would be interesting and good with a lot of stuff to do and a clever storyline, it drowns itself in artifical barriers that keep you from progressing all game long.
    It's not even about it being grindy, it's about the blatant attempt to make the game long winded to the point of it being boring, unless you actually want to beat it.

    There's not a single thing you can focus on in this game as in order to progress in anything, you have to do something else instead.

    It has it all really:
    Cooking
    Fishing
    Farming
    Alchemy
    Dungeon
    Story

    And all of it falls flat because you simply can't focus on anything.

    On top of that you get flimsy guidance and confusing quest tasks - so without a wiki you are simply not able to play the game.

    Most of the time you won't even be able to grind as you need to run across that huge map back and forth. And if that wasn't annoying enough you constantly have to manage your inventory because the size is a massive joke - especially since you can't stay focused on anything.

    As it stands - the game needs a major rebalancing for the technology points as well as ways to increase health and stamina without making it a potion fest.
    And it needs to reconsider how annoying it is to not be able to focus on one thing at a time which forces you to manage your inventory every time you do something else. Which happens every 5 minutes or so.    … Expand
  9. yosa1
    Nov 1, 2018
    0
    Now that it is released, one word; boring. Now there is boring dlc that makes the game play less boring but still awful, a redundant dlc just to alleviate bad game mechanics; screams mobile market;
  10. ROFLx
    Aug 26, 2018
    0
    this game is so busted.Boring jokes, Boring work.There is no love making games.
  11. Crackfarmer
    Sep 12, 2018
    4
    Unfinished Game and what's in is not properly done.

    Game gives you not much Tutorials, the Time you run from A to B is pretty much the whole Game.

    Every new NPC loads you with 50 million Quests to do. Not to speak of several Bugs which sometimes can cause you to start the Game over because the Savegame is broken...

    A complete letdown..
  12. ulufarkas
    Nov 6, 2022
    3
    Imagine a game: You pay for it, download it but can not play due to your computer's time zone.

Awards & Rankings

64
#64 Most Discussed PC Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 14 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. Eurogamer Italy
    Oct 23, 2018
    70
    Graveyard Keeper adds an interesting theme to the successful Stardew Valley genre. Unfortunately it also adds some inconvenient UI and UX issues and an atmosphere that fails to really involve the player.
    Read full review
  2. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Sep 26, 2018
    73
    Early on, it’s not that burdensome to personally lug around materials and process them into useful things, but as the technology marches on, you’ll have to do more and more menial tasks to make that new sword or casket that you need. [Issue#232, p.70]
  3. GRYOnline.pl
    Sep 25, 2018
    70
    The overall quality of Graveyard Keeper is satisfactory. Of the 50 hours of gameplay, 40 were really cool; all this morbid fun was really interesting, even if the game could use some polish and a better balance.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »