After 8 years, there was hardly any expectation for a second Graveyard Keeper, but exactly this game has now been announced. On this occasion, the first part is being given away on Steam and PS5 for free.
What kind of game is this? Graveyard Keeper is a sandbox role-playing game by developer Lazy Bear Games, released on August 15, 2018. With its pixel look and top-down camera, the game instantly brings back memories of Stardew Valley, but here you manage a cemetery – hence the term “Stardew Valley with corpses”.
On April 9, 2026, nearly 8 years after the release of part 1, a sequel was unexpectedly announced. It is set to be released this year. There is no exact release date yet, but there is an unbeatable offer: Until April 13, 2026, you can get Graveyard Keeper for free on Steam and in the PlayStation Store.
Here you can see the announcement trailer for the unexpected sequel to Graveyard Keeper:
Corpse Burgers instead of Cabbages
What is the game about? Unlike in Stardew Valley, here you primarily manage a cemetery as mentioned, rather than a farm. However, in Graveyard Keeper, the line between these two business models is not as clear-cut as one would like.
Your main goal is to make money. To achieve this goal, you can resort to a number of morally questionable methods: such as processing the corpses from your cemetery into burger meat or ensuring a supply of fresh corpses with the right recipes.
By now, the game’s dark humor becomes evident. This is also one aspect that contributes to the game’s great popularity: 86% of the 47,000 reviews for the game on Steam are positive.
For example, it is praised:
- “Graveyard Keeper is a very beautiful pixel-art RPG in the style of Stardew Valley. However, it emphasizes different aspects. It has darker humor in the story, places less weight on social interactions, but offers a higher quest density.” (undertaker-bhv on Steam)
- “All in all, there’s always something to do and it’s fun; the game doesn’t leave you with downtime and is also beautifully macabre” (ImperatorBob on Steam)
Others find Graveyard Keeper to be too grind-heavy. For instance, Steam user PandaManiac writes in his Steam review that it becomes “repetitive, tedious, and frustrating” over time. The ending is also unsatisfactory because you must purchase the DLCs to experience the actual end of the story.
While Graveyard Keeper is only free for a few days, you could have secured a coop game on Steam for free for over a year. Now, however, the developers have announced that they must put a price tag on the game. Why? You can find out in our article on MeinMMO: A coop game on Steam was free since its release, but reluctantly, the developers now have to charge money for it.
Your opinion is important to us!
Do you like the article? Then let us know!