History VideoGame / GraveyardKeeper

* AmnesiacDissonance: As revealed in the ''Game of Crone'' DLC, [[spoiler:Clotho was once the head of a clan of vampires, and tried to use them to trigger the Ancient Curse as punishment on the villagers for spurning her and the Ancient God. She had a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment after the vampires attacked and nearly killed her sister Chain, and tried to drink herself to death with the many potions in her hut - leaving herself with permanent memory loss and a new, still-crazy-but-less-OmnicidalManiac personality.]]

* ZombifyTheLiving: [[spoiler:Beatrice plans to convert the soldiers of Mountain Fort into ghoul servants under her control, using a combination of a spell she got from Clotho and a concoction called "Infusion of Death" which she wants the Keeper to brew for her.]]

* YouHaveResearchedBreathing: Doing pretty much anything except walking, talking, or eating requires an appropriate [[TechTree technology]]. Among these are things like gathering sand on a beach, chopping logs into firewood, and catching butterflies.

* FriendlyNeighbourhoodVampire: [[Spoiler:Alaric]] from ''Game of Crone'' was turned into a vampire against his will, and wants to protect the land and its people from the Ancient Curse. At first, he preys on the villagers out of necessity, but when the Graveyard Keeper figures out what he is, he agrees to pay him for blood drained from his corpses, even though it tastes like mud to him and causes him unpleasant health complications.

* OrphanageOfFear: Snake offhandedly mentions growing up in one of these, telling the graveyard keeper that he wants them to decorate a ritual site to make it "as terrifying as the orphanage."

** The Jelly of Incredible Power from the donkey's questline is one to Splinter from ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' - the jelly is shaped like a rat wearing robes and carrying a walking stick, and the rats that request the jelly will claim it will "make them skilled at martial arts and fond of turtles".

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. Four [=DLCs=] were released for the game: ''Breaking Dead'', ''Stranger Sins'', ''Game of Crone'', and ''Better Save Soul'' (this last one was never ported to Switch). ''The Last Journey Edition'' was released in May 2023 bundled with all four DLCs.

* 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 UnintentionallyUnwinnable. Even the most recent patches still have issues, such as the [=PS5=] version often crashing ''while launching the game''. Unsurprisingly, the last [=DLC=] was confirmed not to be coming to the Nintendo Switch, due to the complexity of trying to optimize a game to run half decently on the Switch.

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. Four [=DLCs=] have been released: ''Breaking Dead'', ''Stranger Sins'', ''Game of Crone'', and ''Better Save Soul''.

** For example, after you go through the trouble of opening up the church and improving your graveyard from its abysmal negative score, the Donkey goes on strike, demanding oil for his wheels, and a recurring fee of 10 carrots every two bodies delivered (with Pride Day as a day off), cutting you off from your most basic form of income: selling Burial Certificates. And even then, every merchant only has a limited amount of money that they can give you, and will only buy specific goods, some of which they won't accept until you've raised your affinity with them.

* TheAlcoholic: Gerry. His quests ALWAYS involve you getting him alcohol, and he keeps complaining about not having a drink all the time in his dialog. During the Stranger Sins DLC, it's decided that you'll build something just to gain access to a buried machine, of course his idea is to build a tavern.

* BrokenBridge: While there's only one literal example in the game, cutting you off from the western half of the map and the Swamp, there are numerous obstacles that keep you from accessing parts of the game like the dungeon beneath the church, and especially higher tier resources. Amusingly, there's another literal broken bridge ''east'' of town, but since that one is story related you don't have the opportunity to fix it.
* BurnTheWitch: The Holy Inquisitor's favorite part of his job. One of the in-game questlines involves trying to get people to come to the weekly witch burnings after they lose interest, such as providing food and drink for the attendees.

* ChummyCommies: While the donkey would often rail against "capitalists" at the start, demanding carrots for delivery of corpses, he later becomes amiable with the player.
* 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 the Ancient Contract (which renders them immortal keepers of the Ancient God's whims) that 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.]]

* 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. Even locations get this treatment: your village is the Village, adjacent to the Town, and part of the Kingdom.
* 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." Turns out to be a major plot point in "Stranger Sins". [[spoiler:Gerry was originally Jove, first king of the land, after he successfully manipulated Horadric and Krezvold into summoning the master to overthrow the Ancient God. After he betrayed, murdered and manipulated everyone, the ancient curse rolled over, raising the dead and basically ruining everyone's lives. He was beheaded by his own son, cursed with undeath and forbidden from his own memories by the Ancient God. His KarmaHoudiniWarranty ran out centuries ago.]]

* 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.

** Ironically, according to the dairy farmer, these people seem to be ''horrified'' at the thought of eating beef, since "The cows are our friends!"

* 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 UnintentionallyUnwinnable.

* OrphanageOfFear: Snake implies that he grew up in one of these, telling the graveyard keeper that he wants them to decorate a ritual site to make it "as terrifying as the orphanage."

* PardonMyKlingon: Gerry tends to say "sard" a lot (while "sard" ''was'' [[CurseOfTheAncients a real medieval swear word]], it is very obscure nowadays).

* 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 Astrologer being Ms. Charm's father, and the innkeeper's wife being the Witch Clotho's sister]].

** '''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... even if the women he has his soldiers find are not witches at all.

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 while trying to find a way home.

''Graveyard Keeper'' is a management simulation game, 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 many of the staples of the genre such as gathering resources, growing crops, and gradually expanding to 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 entertaining the whimsies of a lovely singer]] named Ms. Charm.

** For example, after you go through the trouble of opening up the church and improving your graveyard from its abysmal negative score, the Donkey starts to charge you oil for his wheels, and a recurring fee of 10 carrots every two bodies delivered (with Pride Day off), cutting you off from your most basic form of income: selling Burial Certificates. And even then, the Inn Keeper Horadric and every other merchant only has a limited amount of money that they can give you, and will only buy specific goods, with the exception of firewood...
** 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. If you know this, however, you can use the church to make the money you need prior to the upgrade, then complete the request instantly and move on, but that information is a bit of a "GuideDangIt".
** Selling money and goods to vendors follows a semi-realistic model of Supply and Demand. Certain vendors will only buy certain goods that they need or trade in themselves, they will only have a limited amount of money to give you (until you improve the church, and thus, foot traffic to the area), and the more you sell the same commodity, the smaller its value will get as you make it less and less valuable, rarity-wise. This has lead to MANY players stuck with investments they are unable to turn a profit on until the markets restock, alongside the general lack of decent, constant means to get funds.
* TheAlcoholic: Gerry. His quests ALWAYS involve you getting him alcohol, and he keeps complaining about not having a drink all the time in his dialog.

* {{Bathos}}: While the Inquisitor's hunting down, torturing, and burning witches is ''never'' played for laughs, his getting you to make flyers for the event and sell beer and hamburgers during it certainly ''is''. Bonus points if you made the meat using corpse flesh.

* BrokenBridge: While there's only one literal example in the game, cutting you off from the western half of the map and the Swamp, there are numerous obstacles that keep you from accessing parts of the game like the dungeon beneath the church, and especially higher tier resources. Amusingly, there's another literal broken bridge ''east'' of town, but you don't have the opportunity to fix that one.
* BurnTheWitch: The Holy Inquisitor's favorite 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.
* CastFromLifespan: Clotho mentions at one point that witches are theoretically immortal, but every spell they cast brings their death ever so slightly closer. [[spoiler:Her sister Bella, the farmer's wife, used her magic selflessly to work as a healer, and it's implied that this placed a strain on her body that contributed to her DeathByChildbirth.]]

* 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.]]

* DirtyCommies: The donkey in the game often railed against "capitalists" and even demanded new provisions (namely certain amounts of carrots for every corpse he carry) later on.

* 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."
** Turns out to be a major plot point in "Stranger Sins" [[spoiler:Garry was originally Jove, first king of the land, after he successfully manipulated Horadric and Krezvold into summoning the master to overthrow the Ancient God. After he betrayed, murdered and manipulated everyone, the ancient curse rolled over, raising the dead and basically ruining everyone's lives. He was beheaded by his own son, cursed with undeath and forbidden from his own memories by the Ancient God. His KarmaHoudiniWarranty ran out centuries ago.]]

** ChummyCommies: Though the donkey would become amiable with the player as well.

* CastFromLifespan: Clotho mentions at one point that witches are theoretically immortal, but every spell they cast brings their death ever so slightly closer. [[spoiler:Her sister Bella, the farmer's wife, used her magic selflessly to work as a healer, and it's implied that this placed a strain on her body that contributed to her DeathByChildhood.]]

** 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.

* CastFromLifespan: Clotho mentions at one point that witches are theoretically immortal, but every spell they cast brings their death ever so slightly closer. [[spoiler:Her sister Bella, the farmer's wife, ended up killing herself through a combination of casting too many healing spells on others, and the stress of birthing her children.]]

* SimulationGame: It's all about trying to make a profitable and beautiful graveyard, church, and other businesses, to try to find some way to get back 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, 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.