History VideoGame / GraveyardKeeper

* LowFantasy: There is magic, but very few people seem to be able to use it. Your character happens to be one of those few, able to use a teleport stone and command the undead through necromancy.

* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: On top of doing a lot of things for a lot of people you are by the end of the game- a graveyard keeper, a prior, a farmer, a vinter, a necromancer-of-sorts, head of a large scale mining/quarry/lumber operation, and, if you bought the [=DLCs=], a tavern owner and a refugee camp manager.

* PardonMyKlingon: Gerry tends to say "sard" a lot.

** During the final quest from Better Save Soul, Horadric tells you [[WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty "In and out, twenty-minute repair job"]] to fix what's been broken around the Village.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Horadric, the innkeeper, of all people. He [[spoiler:used to be a soldier who helped open the Ancient Portal, in order to lead a rebellion against the Ancient God so he could be with his lover, the priestess Chain. They successfully summon the science-focused Master, but eventually, the Ancient God punishes his followers by sending drought and famine. Things get worse when the other soldiers murder the Master and install themselves as the head of a new religious order and break the Eternal Bridge. Without a place to go, the dead start to walk, anarchy reigns, and it's only until they sign an Ancient Contract that renders them immortal keepers of the Ancient God's whims do they find some semblance of peace--and after all that, Chain feels she can no longer be with Horadric after all the suffering and destruction she's unintentionally instigated.]]

* DungeonBypass: Several items necessary for quests can simply be purchased instead of crafted. Most notably (and literally), you can buy [[spoiler:the Golden Apple for Snake from Clotho, rather than trudging through fifteen floors of murderous dungeon monsters]]. The [=DLC=] adds a couple more alternate solutions—for example, you can also [[spoiler:make a bunch of curtains and roof tiles for the woodcutter to get a Golden Apple.]]

* GuideDangIt: Certain parts of the game are intentionally left obfuscated (such as the late-game "Cultist" perk for autopsies), require trial and error (alchemy reagents), or are explained at inconvenient times, such as WHY exactly it's a bad idea to bury corpses with numerous red skulls in your graveyard. (The hit to your quality score aside, [[spoiler:the dead are not happy with the prospect of eternal rest beside such mangled bodies, and summon lightning to destroy your precious grave decorations]].)

* ImAHumanitarian: You can turn the whole village into this by knowingly selling them human meat. You can also become this yourself by baking the flesh and eating it. Funnily enough, both human flesh and frog meat produce the exact same product, with no functional or aesthetic difference between the two, nor any sort of downsides, except maybe to your humanity and your right to call yourself a moral individual. Especially poignant with the Holy Inquisitor's questline, where you sell burgers and beer at witch burnings to make them more popular. Sure, you ''could'' fish for it, or buy Frogs from Clotho the Swamp Witch to make the meat, but a lot of your corpses are still pretty fresh, and it's not like anyone will know...

* OracularHead: Gerry, the previous graveyard keeper who met some unfortunate, mysterious fate, has been reduced to a talking skull.

** The Ghost who advises you about the state of your graveyard is named [[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} "Yorick"]]. Ironically, you never find his skull, nor [[AlasPoorYorick hold it as you lament his demise]]. You do however [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] that the character who ''is'' a skull is named Gerry.

The game was released on August 15, 2018 by developer Lazy Bear Games, the creators of ''VideoGame/PunchClub'', with Creator/TinyBuild once again acting as the publisher.

You wake up in a mysterious, foggy plain, talking to a shadowy, ghostly figure who tells you you're now to become a Graveyard Keeper, and unfortunately, all your many questions about what happened, who (or what) he is, and how you're supposed to get home are to be answered by a man called "Gerry." You suddenly find yourself in simple hemp clothes in a cozy cabin, and after digging up Gerry (who turns out to be a talking skull with amnesia), and a misunderstanding with the local bishop, you find yourself thrown deep into the dark business of dealing with the dead, and trying to find a way home.

''Graveyard Keeper'' is a management simulation same, and such for the premise, it is essentially ''VideoGame/StardewValley'' or ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' with ''much'' more corpses and a far darker, grimmer, and comedic take on the Medieval country life, the game has you doing much of the staples of the genre such as gathering resources, growing crops, making money and gradually expanding onto more complex and profitable ventures--like, say, [[ImAHumanitarian carving off flesh from dead bodies]] and selling it to the local innkeeper, helping a zealous inquisitor find witches and make their burnings much more appealing to the masses via advertising flyers and free food and drink, or [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking entertain the whimsies of a lovely singer]] named Ms. Charm.

The game was released on August 15, 2018 by developed Lazy Bear Games, the creators of ''VideoGame/PunchClub'', with Creator/TinyBuild once again acting as the publisher.

* AdamSmithHatesYourGuts: Money can be ''absurdly'' hard to come by.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: "Breaking Dead" the new Halloween update added a few:
** The Zombie Workforce is a big one, removing tedium from most tasks such as mining for ore, chopping logs, Farming and most importantly, shipping crates which constitute your biggest income and time sink.
** The new dedicated slots for your tools, sword and armor free up seven spaces, where your inventory size never grows past the initial 20. Needless to say, this is a MAJOR convenience.

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Your character, the Graveyard Keeper, is only referred to as such by everyone. Some other [=NPCs=] are also given this treatment, such as the Old Astrologer, the Holy Inquisitor, and the Lighthouse Keeper.
* GhostAmnesia: Gerry has Magic Talking Skull Amnesia. He remembers very little about his life beyond his love of alcohol, though bits and pieces often come back to him as you chat about the world around you. What he ''does'' remember implies that he's been dead for quite some time, as he calls the now-elderly Astrologer a "clever young man".

* TalkingAnimal: The Donkey who delivers you your corpses. He uses his gift of speech to rail against you, a "capitalist", and constantly spouts off the communist views he got from the "left-leaning stable" he was born in. Notably, you are the only person capable of communicating with him.

* ObviousBeta: The game's full release has been plagued by numerous bugs, several of them [[GameBreakingBug game-breaking]]. One which seems to have been fixed in patches prevented the player from completing the Bishop's first quest, rendering the entire game UnwinnableByMistake.

* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: On top of doing a lot of things for a lot of people you are by the end of the game- a graveyard keeper, a prior, a farmer, a vinter, a necromancer-of-sorts, head of a large scale mining/quarry/lumber operation, and, if you bought the "Stranger Sins" [=DLC=], a tavern owner.

--> ''Lazy Bear Games,'' the Developers

* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: On top of doing a lot of things for a lot of people you are by the end of the game- a graveyard keeper, a prior, a farmer, a vinter, a necromancer-of-sorts, head of a large scale mining/quarry/lumber operation, and, if you bought the [=DLC=], a tavern owner.

** Speaking of Gerry, his characterisation as a talking skull who loves booze may be a reference to the nameless skull from ''WesternAnimation/TheLastUnicorn''.

Such is the premise for ''Graveyard Keeper.'' Essentially ''VideoGame/StardewValley'' or ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' with ''much'' more corpses and a far darker, grimmer, and comedic take on the Medieval country life, the game has you doing much of the staples of the genre such as gathering resources, growing crops, making money and gradually expanding onto more complex and profitable ventures--like, say, [[ImAHumanitarian carving off flesh from dead bodies]] and selling it to the local innkeeper, helping a zealous inquisitor find witches and make their burnings much more appealing to the masses via advertising flyers and free food and drink, or [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking entertain the whimsies of a lovely singer]] named Ms. Charm.

The game was released on August 15, 2018 by Lazy Bear Games, developers of ''VideoGame/PunchClub'', with Tiny Build Games once again acting as the publisher.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: During the game's ending [[spoiler:the Graveyard Keeper expresses a desire to be reunited with his love. the portal he created then brings her into the world instead of sending him home.]]

** An even worse, mid-game frustration that has many players vocally protesting is the Big Church upgrade, which costs 20 silver. Immediately after that, and without warning, you have to pony up 1 gold (''100'' silver, five times as much as the church upgrade) to have sermons again, which oftentimes serves as a player's constant source of income and the ''only'' way to get valuable Faith. A patch (which so far has only been released on PC) lowered this cost to "only" another 20 silver. It still comes out of nowhere with absolutely no warning.

* ImAHumanitarian: You can turn the whole village into this by knowingly selling them human meat. You can also become this yourself by baking the flesh and eating it. Funnily enough, both human flesh and frog meat produce the exact same product, with no functional or aesthetic difference between the two, nor any sort of downsides, except maybe to your humanity and your right call yourself a moral individual. Especially poignant with the Holy Inquisitor's questline, where you sell burgers and beer at witch burnings to make them more popular. Sure, you ''could'' fish for it, or buy Frogs from Clotho the Swamp Witch to make the meat, but a lot of your corpses are still pretty fresh, and it's not like anyone will know...

** '''Pride''' - Represented by '''The Bishop''', who is absolutely obsessed with his personal appearance, as evidenced by the mirror he carries underneath his hat, and how he appears to the Church, tasking you with beautifying your graveyard and your church for his benefit.

** '''Wrath''' - Represented by the '''Holy Inquisitor''', who after [[spoiler:losing his wife, his son, and his peaceful life as a winemaker to The Great Blast]] dedicated the rest of his life to hunting down the witches he believes responsible, thinking of nothing more than the next one he will root out, torture, and burn at the stake.
** '''Greed''' - You, the Graveyard Keeper, as you inevitably will succumb to the pursuit of owning everything in your playthrough, and the numerous ''less than ethical'' means you can use to make money, even things as extreme as [[AnimateDead raising the dead]], for your own selfish reasons, no matter how sympathetic going home to your lover is.

** There's also a ''literal'' example of this trope name. There is a colorful pirate at the Dead Horse, constantly rolling dice. Such a character usually would be features in a quest (or a gambling mini-game), but not here. He doesn't figure into the story at all.

* UnusualEuphemism: In one quest, the farmer challenges the gravekeeper to bring him a carrot the size of a log, and you must enlist the help of Clotho the witch. When she hears the gravekeeper's request to "enlarge my carrot", her immediate response is "That's a strange name for it..."

The game was released on August 15, 2018 by Lazy Bear Games, developers of ''Punch Club'', with Tiny Build Games once again acting as the publisher.

* BurnTheWitch: The Holy Inquisitor's favourite part of his job. One of the in-game questlines involves trying to get people to come to them after they lose interest, such as providing free food and drink.

-->'''Gerry''': Sard!

* DungeonBypass: Several items necessary for quests can simply be purchased instead of crafted. Most notably (and literally), you can simply buy [[spoiler:the Golden Apple for Snake from Clotho, rather than trudging through fifteen floors of murderous dungeon monsters]]. The [=DLC=] adds a couple more alternate solutions—for example, you can also [[spoiler:make a bunch of curtains and roof tiles for the woodcutter to get a Golden Apple.]]

* HumanResources: A key gameplay mechanic. Numerous useful items and important quests are gated until you can extract certain body parts from corpses, along with them being a useful source of materials for consumables like candles.
* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: On top of doing a lot of things for a lot of people you are by the end of the game- a graveyard keeper, a prior, a farmer, a vinter, a necromancer-of-sorts, head of a large scale mining/quarry/lumber operation, and if you bought the dlc a tavern owner.

* MundaneUtility: The "Breaking Dead" update gives you the ability to ''bring the dead back to life!'' ... In order to do your chores for you.

* ObviousBeta: The game's full release has been plagued by numerous bugs, several of them [[GameBreakingBug game breaking]]. One which seems to have been fixed in patches prevented the player from completing the Bishop's first quest, rendering the entire game UnwinnableByMistake.

* TheReveal: Several [=NPC=] relations aren't immediately obvious, such as [[spoiler:The Snake being the Holy Inquisitor's son, the Bishop and Merchant being estranged brothers, the Old Astrologer being Ms. Charm's father, and The innkeeper's wife being the Witch Clotho's sister]].