Graveyard Keeper 2 Review – A Medieval System Shock Worth Mining For

Let’s address the elephant in the room: I’m no cozy gamer. In fact, the games I typically play are so far from being cozy that the only satisfaction they provide is from a filthy no-scope headshot or seeing “LEGEND FELLED.” But I’ve seen countless hours of my sister decide which marriage candidate takes her fancy in Stardew Valley and Story of Seasons, heard those sweet, sweet Animal Crossing tunes, and succumbed to lava in Minecraft, so I was ready to take my fighting spirit to the medieval world of Graveyard Keeper 2.

How difficult could it be?

Sure, I wasn’t expecting to hear the iconic COD WaW zombies music loading into Graveyard Keeper. Nor did I anticipate an actual learning curve with a game that uses the tried-and-true formula in every role-playing and life simulation. Alas, my time in Graveyard Keeper 2 was a surprising one. So let’s talk about it.

The ultimate Isekai adventure wrapped in a neat cozy package

In Graveyard Keeper 2, you need to deal with the ongoing demand of corpse handling, helping the locals, and liberating the town from undead hordes. All with the end goal of industrialism and automation in mind. And who better to hire than zombies?

I strongly believe those who played the first will quickly settle into how the sequel works. But there is a curious learning curve that comes from even the most basic of tasks.

Graveyard Keeper 2 is a surprisingly challenging game (and not in the typical sense)

I’m not talking about combat or completing quests. Everything is streamlined on that front, offering a simpler-is-better route, and it works. But this cozy game really doesn’t explain a thing to you. You get the briefest of summaries on how a fundamental mechanic works, and that’s that. The rest is up to you to figure out. And that’s great.

Because of this, Graveyard Keeper feels like it took a leaf out of System Shock’s book, where every aspect of the game is behind a layer of experimentation. Figuring out what makes Keeper tick through trial and error, paying close attention, and reading over the Tutorial like your life depends on it gives you a unique and multifaceted sense of fulfilment and satisfaction. Like with any life sim with role-playing elements, starting from scratch and building your base until it thrives on its own is the very foundation on which Keeper is built. But satisfaction comes not only from being swept up in farming, mining, building, and creating zombies, but from getting something right when the game gave you no clue on how to achieve it.

There’s definitely a rewarding aspect to playing Graveyard Keeper, which I feel is missing from most cozy games. It blends the typical relaxing farming sim with challenges that aren’t too dissimilar to working out a puzzle.

Then you reach the autopilot zone, almost like the runner’s high of Keeper where life becomes simple again. Travel is made simple with fast travel, unlocked through Faith (bonus points for being able to carry an item through the waypoint). Everything works in tandem and progress feels rewarding and streamlined (once you get the hang of it).

Could be a skill issue

Like with most games, I do have a few nitpicks. These don’t really impact my overall enjoyment of Graveyard Keeper 2, but I feel they’re worth mentioning. For one, remembering a recipe is easy, but completing it can become a tedious task before zombie assistants get involved. I often found myself forgetting exactly what I was making even with the queue system.

Outside of this, I found myself getting rather tired of fetch quest after fetch quest, as this is the core mechanic. As I said above, I’m no cozy gamer, so this could be something I need to get used to. But the RPG elements forcing you to constantly talk to one NPC, head home and make what they want, come back and grab the next fetch request, rinse and repeat gets a little stale—and fast too. This then messes with pacing, as sometimes you can get into a flow state inside the Inquisition Base, just to have the story send you all over when you’d rather be cozying up to your undead brotherhood.

Thankfully, Keeper thought of this and added the much-needed combat (Battles), which is the simplest part of the game to break up and add variety to the questlines. You can also skip crafting altogether and go to a Trader who just so happens to have the quest item you need.

The rare, but forgettable parts

The final things I’ll mention are the soundtrack and voice acting. I found both to be rather lackluster. What I fondly remember from cozy games is their OST. Fields of Mistria, Spyro, Animal Crossing, heck, even Undertale have stayed with me for their music. I find myself putting on a chill playlist when I hop on for long sessions.

And the voice acting. Hm, let’s just say I found it rather jarring. Maybe it’s because I didn’t expect it in a cozy game, but in Graveyard Keeper 2, it gets rather obnoxious at times. I would skip through dialogue to avoid a character screaming at me or sounding like a caricature. It’s a shame because the quirky dialogue is fitting for the setting and supernatural elements. The game is seemingly aware of this potential flaw as you can mute audio or switch to mumbling.

Verdict

Graveyard Keeper 2 is a no-brainer for cozy gamers who want a sense of challenge and fulfilment when completing the parts of a life sim that make you come back for more — the cozy part.