1980’s retromania is everywhere you look these days, from Stanger Things on Netflix to the re-release money grab of the NES Classic. This is the perfect time to revisit the pixelated video games of the 80’s with a charming tale from tinyBuild and Lazy Bear Games, “Graveyard Keeper.”
Without getting too spoilerish, you get thrown into an unknown world and thrust into the unenviable role of — wait for it — graveyard keeper. Your graveyard is in rough shape, and it’s your job to spruce the place up. Chop down old trees, carve gravestones, dig up dirt, and get knee deep in entrails as you prepare to go 6-feet under.
Dungeon crawling is just one of many fun ways to explore the world of Graveyard Keeper (Graveyard Keeper Courtesy Lazy Bear Games and tinyBuild)
A game with subject matter this dark needs a sense of humor, and luckily Graveyard Keeper brings it. You start by meeting a talking skull named Gerry, and you’ll soon meet other characters around the village who are sure to give you a chuckle or two. The game is being created by a Russian studio, and I’m hopeful that some topical humor can be injected into the dialogue, given the current state of affairs between the U.S. and Russia. It’s an Alpha build of the game right now, so we’ll have to wait and see.
I figured that this would be a poor man’s version of Stardew Valley, where you bury bodies instead of plant crops. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Even in Alpha, Graveyard Keeper boasts surprisingly deep gameplay. As you improve the graveyard, you’ll unlock new game paths and more crafting building opportunities. Without revealing too much, your shovel won’t be the only tool you’ll be using during your adventures. Fishing poles, gardening hoes, and swords are also a big part of the game as well.
The game actually has upped the ante with a very welcome feature: technology. Fans of the Civilization franchise will feel right at home with this interface, which encourages to earn and spend tech points to discover new technology. From harvesting organs to forging weapons, no (grave) stone is left unturned. The Alpha version already boasts a surprisingly fleshed out tech tree, and I’m looking forward to seeing the final product.
Tech trees - long a staple in games like Civilization - are a welcome addition to the 16-bit world. (Courtesy tinyBuild and Lazy Bear Games)
Even sleeping is an improved feature to its farming counterpart. Instead of making a mad dash to make it home to bed by some arbitrary time every night, you’re free to be out and about and craft, fish, and explore according to whatever schedule you like. An ingeniously simple sleep cycle gently encourages you to sleep at night, as you recover more energy closer to midnight, and less when the sun is up. Also present is another satisfying game mechanic: a dial that follows six days of the week, all with a corresponding symbol, like a crescent moon (Moonday?) and a female symbol (Ladies Night?). You’ll never get a case of the Mondays in Graveyard Keeper because there is no Monday! If only I could get my employer to see things that way.
The comparisons to Stardew Valley are unavoidable, and that’s the curse of trying to follow in the footsteps of one of the biggest smash hits in indie game history. Stardew Valley felt like a living, breathing community as you walked around, meeting merchants and villagers whose world didn’t revolve around you. The NPC’s would go about their business, and it always felt like you were just a small part of their world. In Graveyard Keeper, many NPC’s are just there waiting for you to talk to them. Sure, some have certain schedules that they keep, but most others seem to be just standing in place 24 hours a day like a Queen’s Guard. It’s a fine line, because one of the frustrating parts of Stardew Valley was memorizing NPC’s schedules to buy a certain item or begin a certain quest. Personally, I wouldn’t mind a little more randomness to schedules, mixed in with “office hours” so you can depend on shopkeepers to sell you their goods. Again, hopefully this is something that gets addressed as the game heads toward final release, but I think the developers are on the right track.
If you love Stardew Valley, you’ll really dig Graveyard Keeper. Even with all of the gameplay elements being blocked during Alpha, it’s a fairly robust game that has clearly gotten a lot of tender loving care from its own “Keeper.” It will inevitably be judged by another certain farm management game, but if there’s title that can escape that enormous 16-bit shadow, it might just be Graveyard Keeper.
Graveyard Keeper is in Alpha, and is scheduled to be released on Steam for PC and Xbox One on August 15th.
