Beside its evident qualities in terms of immersion, due to a funny, unique and charming context, Graveyard Keeperand lacks variety and is, sometimes, too much based on farming system.

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.

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]

Despite a very atmospheric world and fun basic idea it requires a huge amount of grind and is suitable especially for players with a lot of patience.

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.

Gamers who love Stardew Valley primarily as the opportunity to live a vicarious alternative life might be disappointed by Graveyard Keeper, but those who are attracted to the slow and steady rhythm of building, crafting, and management will enjoy the many systems at play. The game is rarely punishing but maybe not always rewarding in the same measure some would prefer. Its humor is dry and witty without being too obvious and its presentation and polish are only marred by some infrequent bugs.

Graveyard Keeper is a heaven for those who love to grind, and a real hell for everyone else.

Graveyard Keeper is an engaging and rewarding farming sim weighed down by pacing and performance issues. The GBA-style visuals compliment its contained open world, and influences from old-school Zelda games that shine through just as much as that of Harvest Moon or Stardew Valley. The PC and Xbox versions play almost exactly the same, which is unfortunate considering the game’s performance, but if you can look past all the spots and blotches, you’ll likely enjoy the challenging gathering-crafting grind, and the game’s macabre humor when it actually lands.

A solid and fun little farming type sim, but one that has a few issues. Although it’s a bit rough around the edges, it’s still worth a look.

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.

As long as you can stomach the slow opening stretch and that the game doesn’t quite live up to its title, you’ll enjoy this gruesome spin on the farming genre.

Graveyard Keeper is an undeniably unique game. It just stretches itself too thin. Even the titular role — the actual keeping of a graveyard — often feels secondary to the constant pursuit of new upgrades. Its central, twisted conceit goes a long way to making the grindy experience tolerable, though. Even at its worst, Graveyard Keeper sure to find an audience, as its macabre atmosphere and off-color activities aren’t things you see in games too often.

I can only recommend it if you’re looking for a new farming/harvesting simulator, specifically. And even then I want you to temper your expectations a bit, at that.

For fans of sims that offer a good range of what you can do, this is worth taking a look at. Although it still needs more tweaking, it’s headed in a good direction.