Graveyard Keeper

Graveyard Keeper makes a lot of bold choices, replacing the friendly, relaxing atmosphere of typical life sims with a more goal-directed structure in a more cynical setting. While I found its pace tedious at times and would have preferred more focus on the grave-tending mechanics, more patient players will find a lot to like in its wealth of well-developed diversions, fantastic art and music, and pitch-black comedic aesthetic.

While it can be tough to get into, Graveyard Keeper is an engrossing, if sometimes gruesome, game. Playing it, there was some part of me that knew roaming around hacking up trees and so forth was basically work, but it never really felt like it – which is especially odd since I turned my nose up at No Man’s Sky’s resource gathering. But ultimately, Graveyard Keeper is so charming, in a twisted Tim Burton, dark fantasy sort of way, that you rarely resent the busywork. It’s certainly a rare game that can make you rub your hands at the prospect of purchasing a crematorium.

There’s no doubt that Graveyard Keeper is a fun game every now and again; there are bright nuggets of gold sporadically hidden within it. It’s the video game equivalent of Now, That’s What I Call Music: you get it for a few good hits and deal with the fluff in-between. However, if you’re looking for a strong competitor to Stardew Valley or Rune Factory, this doesn’t quite hit the mark.