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Getting Started
September 23, 2026 at 06:45 AM
Rewrote pre-launch sections for the 22 September 2026 release: where to buy, demo save carry-over, first steps checklist and updated confirmed details table
Graveyard Keeper 2 is the sequel to the 2018 management sim Graveyard Keeper. It was revealed at the Triple-I Initiative Reveal in April 2026 and was released on 22 September 2026 on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and both Nintendo Switch consoles. A free demo covering the opening hours ran from 14 September until launch, and there was no early access programme. This page is the practical onboarding guide for new players. For the broader pitch, see the main overview.
The developer logs set out what that work looks like: the cemetery sits just outside the walls of The Town, which the player rebuilds district by district.
Released: 22 September 2026, at 17:00 UTC on every platform. Price: 24.99 US dollars on every storefront read the day after launch. Storefront specifics live in the platforms and release article and the dedicated System Requirements page.
On PC the game is sold on Steam, GOG and the Epic Games Store. On consoles it is on the PlayStation Store for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, on the Xbox store for Series X and Series S and Xbox One, and on the Nintendo eShop for Switch and Switch 2. Every storefront read the day after launch listed it at 24.99 US dollars. It is not part of any subscription catalogue, although owners on Xbox can stream it through cloud play with a qualifying membership. On PC it carries a Verified rating for Steam Deck.
The free demo that ran from 14 September 2026 covered the first steps of the game up to the introduction of The Town, about three to four hours by the studio's estimate, taking in crafting, scavenging, digging and decorating graves, and a first battle in defence of the settlement. Demo saves carry into the full game. On PC the transfer should happen automatically, and the publisher's support centre describes copying the demo's save files into the full game's save folder, or pulling them from cloud saves, if they do not appear. On Nintendo Switch demo progress does not transfer, and the official known issues list asks players to start a new game. The PC demo listing was withdrawn after launch.
Around the announcement, the original Graveyard Keeper was made free-to-keep on its storefronts, with a claim window that ran through April 13, 2026, and the PC storefront now sells a bundle of both games. The graveyard-management loop, the dark humour and the medieval-fantasy framing carry over from it, so it remains useful background, but the sequel's systems are documented on their own pages and nothing from the first game's recipes or quests is assumed to hold here.
You play as the Grand Inquisitor of a medieval kingdom in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. The role layers four broad activities on top of each other:
Manage a graveyard. Build and upgrade plots, handle remains, and run the production chains that grow out from the cemetery.
Automate production with zombie labour. Captured zombies physically power workstations and conveyor systems, freeing the player from repetitive manual work.
Rebuild a town. Restore a ruined medieval settlement, help the residents who survive, and unlock the buildings and services that come with a working community.
Defend against zombie hordes. Build fortifications, equip troops, and lead an undead army into engagements with the larger apocalypse.
The sequel is best understood as three intertwined pillars, with combat sometimes broken out as its own fourth pillar depending on how you slice it.
Pillar | What It Covers |
|---|---|
Graveyard Management & Automation | The cemetery economy and the zombie-powered conveyor systems that chain into it. |
Rebuilding the ruined town, working with surviving residents, and unlocking new structures. | |
Combat & Defence | Crafting weapons and armour, raising fortifications, training troops, and leading the undead army into the field. |
The first Graveyard Keeper was a cozy mortuary sim with a slow production-chain rhythm and no apocalyptic threat hanging over the village. The sequel keeps that mortuary-sim core and stacks two louder genres on top: an automation-factory layer where zombies replace the player's hands on the production line, and a tower-defence layer where the town has to be physically defended from horde attacks. The dark humour and grotesque cast carry over; the pacing does not.
The kingdom is in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, and the player character is the Grand Inquisitor tasked with holding the line. The undead are simultaneously the central threat and the central labour pool: the same zombies that menace the town in waves can be captured and put to work underground. That tension is the narrative spine.
The official material draws a clear picture of the four big systems and the genre framing, while leaving many specifics to the game itself. The table below splits what first-party sources have confirmed from what they have not described, so newcomers know where to trust the wiki and where to wait.
Area | Confirmed | Not Yet Confirmed |
|---|---|---|
Genre framing | Management sim with automation and tower-defence layers, single-player. | Exact pacing and day-night structure. |
Saving | The game is saved by resting in bed, according to the publisher's support centre. | Autosave behaviour. |
Story setup | Grand Inquisitor in a zombie-overrun kingdom rebuilding a ruined town. The achievement list names Januarius and Jully, Jack, Gunter, Linda, the bandits and the fairy. | Most character roles, faction names and the ending. |
Platforms | PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch and Switch 2, all released on 22 September 2026. | Cross-save, cross-buy and the Switch to Switch 2 upgrade path. |
Hardware | Minimum and recommended PC tiers on the storefront, and a Verified rating for Steam Deck. | VRAM and console frame rate targets. |
Release | Released 22 September 2026 at 17:00 UTC, at 24.99 US dollars on every storefront read the day after launch. | Nintendo eShop and Epic Games Store prices, which have not been read for this wiki. |
The official screenshots show how the game is laid out on screen. A top menu bar carries five tabs, and a persistent heads-up display tracks the Inquisitor's resources and standing with the living.
Menu Tab | What It Opens |
|---|---|
Character | The Inquisitor's own stats and progression. |
Tech Tree | The research screen that unlocks buildings, tools, and other recipes. See below. |
Inspirations | A separate screen with its own notification marker; its contents are not yet legible in current material. |
Quests | The active objective and storyline log. |
Map | The world map covering the keeper's grounds and The Town. |
The heads-up display also shows an energy bar, a small stock of a pink resource, three colour-coded point types (red, green, and blue) spent on research, and an approval gauge shown as a value out of 20 that appears to track standing with the townsfolk. A catalogue of the named areas the game shows in its location banner lives on the Locations page.
Progression runs through a Tech Tree split into several categories. Screenshots show a Building category open alongside three more category tabs marked by a book, a plant, and a skull icon. Unlocking a node spends the three coloured points and grants its blueprint. These Building-category nodes are legible in the official screenshots:
Building Node | What It Covers |
|---|---|
The Concept of Wood | Opening node for basic woodcutting and lumber. |
Woodworking I | First tier of processed-wood recipes. |
Chopping | Turns logs into firewood and boards. |
The Concept of Stone | Opening node for stone gathering. |
Pottery I | First tier of clay and pottery work. |
Brick Making | Fired bricks for construction. |
Stone Polishing | Refined stone for higher-tier building. |
Oiled Wood | Treated wood, a mid-tier material. |
Tool Rack | A workshop fixture for tools. |
Simple Weapons | Early armaments, tying the crafting tree to the Combat layer. |
Simple Barricades | Basic defensive structures for the tower-defence layer. |
Only the Building category is readable in the official screenshots, so the full node list across the book, plant, and skull categories is not documented here. After launch the developer named one more technology, Suit Up!, which unlocks the Dresser used to change clothes. The tree as a whole is covered on Technology Tree.
The Building category is the only tech tree branch shown clearly in the official screenshots. The nodes legible in it are listed below, in roughly the order the connecting lines run. They give a sense of the early progression rather than a complete tree, and unlock costs are not shown.
Node | Leads Toward |
|---|---|
The Concept of Wood | Woodworking I and Chopping |
Woodworking I | Simple Weapons and Simple Barricades |
Chopping | Timber processing |
The Concept of Stone | Stone Polishing, Pottery I and Brick Making |
Simple Weapons | Early armament for the troops |
Simple Barricades | Early defensive placements |
Tool Rack | Tool storage and Oiled wood |
Oiled wood | Improved timber output |
Stone Polishing | Refined stone goods |
Pottery I | Ceramics production |
Brick Making | Masonry for construction |
Every node shown in that screenshot already carries a completion tick, so the capture is from a save with the early Building branch finished rather than from a fresh start.
The September 2026 developer log listed a set of deliberate changes from the first game. They are the clearest guide to what a returning player should unlearn.
Change | Detail |
|---|---|
Fast travel | The first game's teleport stone is gone. Travel between unlocked locations uses Milestones instead |
Grind | The studio says there will be less grinding this time, softened further by a new talent system |
Progression | The Technology Tree returns in a familiar form, with talents layered on top |
Quest characters | They no longer arrive from the Town once a week. They stay at their regular locations, though some mechanics tied to them are only available on their designated days |
The Keeper | The studio says it is the same Keeper, then qualifies that it is not exactly the same one. See Grand Inquisitor |
The skull | The talking skull companion is not the first game's skull. See The Skull Companion |
Scale | The map now includes The Town and a set of southern outskirts. See Story and Setting |
Pick a platform and storefront. Every storefront read the day after launch listed the game at 24.99 US dollars.
If you played the demo, check that the save carried over. On Nintendo Switch it does not, and a new game is needed.
If you pre-ordered, look for the sauna to the left of the base, over the bridge once it has been repaired, and unlock the Suit Up! technology and build a Dresser at home for the outfit. See Editions and Pre-Orders.
Save often by resting in bed, and relaunch the game every few hours during long sessions. The publisher recommends both as a workaround for performance that degrades over extended play. See Known Issues and Patch Notes.
Choose your audio. The developer says the options switch between full voice acting and the characters' original mumbling.
Bookmark this wiki. Pages are updated as official information is verified.
Several specifics are not yet documented here: exact controls and default keybinds, item lists and zombie types. Verified information will be folded into the automation, combat, and town restoration pages as it lands. The full list of achievements, which names many of the game's activities, is on Achievements.