Graveyard Keeper

Arcane busywork leaves little room for genuine pleasure in this fascinating and frustrating genre oddity.

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.

It comes down to this. Graveyard Keeper: Last Journey does not have enough, "play just one more day" moments to get me to stick with it long-term. Instead of a dark, horror-filled farm sim spin off, I'm left with a dark humor management system. Building anything feels like a chore. Nothing feels explained to you, even the days of the week are needlessly confusing. I was able to have fun with Graveyard Keeper, but it took more time and patience than I wanted.

Graveyard Keeper is visually well resolved and brings one of the best soundtracks in the genre. Its story flirts with moral aspects like few games dare, and its mission and progression system has its uninspired moments, but it's enough to get us involved and convince us to move on to the next grave.

I personally absolutely love the game, I’m still playing it and this review has taken a whole lot longer than it initially should have done but I just wanted to perfect it. I know when I stop writing this I’ll be heading off back to my graveyard to clean some things up with it and further venture into the dungeons. Yes, there were a few bugs, but nothing that made it unplayable or frustrated me. An amazing little game with so much to offer so I will be giving this the Thumb Culture Platinum Award!

Graveyard Keeper's limitations and shortcomings come real close to outweighing the fun that can be had from playing a new game. When I got the game and read the premise, it sounded quirky and fun. As I played, it seemed more awkward and vexing.

Graveyard Keeper is a cemetery management simulation game and naturally, this is enough for it to stand out on its own. Adding to that a very interesting visual environment and a complex gameplay and a segment of the market will find reasons to be happy about. Those who are not fans of management simulations, as well as those looking for simpler experiences, won't appreciate it in the same way, as Graveyard Keeper can get too cumbersome, long and repetitive and could improve some aspects about its controls.

Graveyard Keeper is an ambitious life simulator that boasts gorgeous art and some interesting mechanics but unfortunately fails to meet the standards of the genre due to some overly complicated tasks and poor balancing

GOOD - Graveyard Keeper is the dark and twisted humorous companion to games like Stardew Valley. It boasts many similarities but delves particularly deep into crafting, exploration, and story intertwinement. For a more casual player, this game can easily feel overwhelming, somewhat confusing and definitely complicated though. Tending a cemetery ends up being far more enjoyable that one might expect with Graveyard Keeper and it’s a very reasonable to give this game a go for $20 on the Nintendo eShop.

Despite their being a morbidly entertaining personality to this game which shows all the hallmarks and potential of a well designed treat, it's too broken to play in its current state. I've enjoyed what I have been able to play of Graveyard Keeper but until it's patched, this game is a tough one to recommend to anyone who isn't a PS4 error screen enthusiast.