Diff - zombies - Graveyard Keeper 2 Wiki

11 Zombies are the workforce, the army and half the joke of Graveyard Keeper 2. The player reanimates them from corpses processed through the graveyard, puts them on production lines under automation, and marches them into battle under combat. They are also the enemy: a second, hostile population overran The Town and is covered under Zombie Apocalypse. This page collects what Lazy Bear Games has confirmed about the player's own undead.

33 Two Populations, One Silhouette

55 The May 2026 developer log drew a hard line between the two groups. The player's zombies are built deliberately, from corpses the player selects and prepares. Each one carries a special mark identifying it as a Possession-Free Zombie, which the studio jokes means one can safely be kept at home. The hostile undead are described in the fiction as dark beings created from corrupted townsfolk through the use of sinister curses, with the studio hedging that attribution as allegedly. The two look similar at a glance, and the developers say their manners are entirely different.

77 TraitPossession-Free ZombieHostile undeadOriginReanimated by the player from prepared corpsesCorrupted townsfolk, cause held back as a story beatMarkingCarries a Possession-Free markNone describedRoleLabour, hauling and soldieringThreat to The Town and its outskirtsEquipmentCan be issued weapons and armourNot describedControllableYes, assigned to roles and stationsNo

88 Specialisation and Skill Progression

1010 The undead workforce is not a flat pool of identical labourers. Different roles require different specialisation, and each individual zombie has its own skill progression. The studio added one detail that confirms the game tracks workers as individuals rather than as an anonymous headcount: a zombie may earn a name as a reward for ten years of loyal service.

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1212 Corruption and Red Skulls

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1414 The first game asked the player to chase white skulls on the corpses they buried. The sequel inverts that. Corruption is now the thing worth having, graded in red skulls, and the studio has said plainly that the most corrupted zombies come from sinners. The more corrupted a zombie is, the better the skills it can develop.

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1616 Corruption leverHow the studio describes itSinful townsfolkMaking residents' lives easier and more comfortable secures a steady flow of sinners, tying Town Restoration to labour qualityPart transplantingThe most corrupted parts can be taken from different corpses and combinedCorruption embalmingAn embalming step described as the cherry on top for raising a corpse's corruptionTown prosperityA better supplied, more prosperous and therefore more sinful Town yields corpses with more skulls

1717 Do not confuse the red skulls on corpses with the green skull rating shown on graves and on the Graveyard area banner. The red count measures corruption in the bodies the player handles. The green count scores the cemetery itself, and is covered on The Graveyard.

1818

1919 What Zombies Do

2020

2121 DutyDetailWorkbench labourThey still use regular workbenches as they did in the originalSemi-automatic machinesThey operate semi-automatic machines in underground factories, given what the studio calls very minimum working conditionsPowering machineryStore screenshots show pairs of zombies turning capstan wheels at the edges of the Town WorkshopConveyor linesConveyor belt factories are named by the studio as a new mechanicSoldieringArmed and armoured undead troops fight alongside the Grand InquisitorUndead expeditionsThe announcement trailer copy describes sending undead expeditions to reclaim and revive the citySquadsSquads of zombie fighters can be positioned anywhere on the battlefield, or led in person once the player raises their banner; squads made up entirely of archers are given as one option

2222 Raw Materials

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2424 The publisher's launch announcement lists the decayed materials gathered to build a zombie army as hearts, bones, brains and skin. Those four are the only named body materials in official copy so far. More on the wider input side is on Resources and Materials.

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2626 A Note on the Original Game

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2828 Zombies were introduced to the series in the first game's first expansion, once the studio decided the keeper needed helpers for the volume of graveyard work. That is the developers' own framing of the lineage. None of the original game's zombie mechanics carry into the sequel automatically: the goal has already been inverted from white skulls to red, and the studio has rebuilt the labour layer around underground factories and battlefield deployment.

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3030 Resurrection

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32-Necromancer, one of the launch achievements, is awarded for resurrecting 50 zombies and describes the result as a whole army. Patch notes since launch show where it happens: a body is prepared and strapped down on the Resurrection Table in the morgue, and resurrection needs both quest and item requirements to be met. The table shows a hint when the player reaches the zombie limit, and update 1.008 fixed the Panic debuff not triggering for a player who goes over the zombie cap. The size of the cap has not been published.

32+Necromancer, one of the launch achievements, is awarded for resurrecting 50 zombies and describes the result as a whole army. Patch notes since launch show where it happens: a body is prepared and strapped down on the Resurrection Table in the morgue, and resurrection needs both quest and item requirements to be met. The table shows a hint when the player reaches the zombie limit, and update 1.008 fixed the Panic debuff not triggering for a player who goes over the zombie cap. The size of the cap had not been published by 13 October 2026.

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3434 Zombie Jobs in the Patch Notes

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36-The fixes released since launch name the jobs zombies do. Each zombie craft has a skill requirement, and since update 1.005 a pending craft shows when the assigned zombie's skill level is too low.

36+The fixes released since launch name the jobs zombies do. Zombie crafts can require a skill level, and since update 1.005 a pending craft shows when the assigned zombie's skill level is too low.

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38-JobWhat the Patch Notes SayCaretakerWorks from a station and goes out to work, including at quarry objects. Since update 1.009 a caretaker can be picked up or inspected while it is outGarden and vineyard workerHarvests crops from the garden and vineyard assistant stations. Since update 1.009 a harvest that keeps failing is left for the playerKitchen workerCooks dishes. Update 1.006 stopped kitchen zombies using up or burning ingredients without producing the dishSawmill, mine, clay pit and sand pit workerCarries the result of each job back before starting the next onePorterMoves goods in the factory. Update 1.010 stopped it walking through factory wallsConveyor workerProvides the gears that conveyor belts run on, more of them with the Belt Master perkFighterCarries a weapon in an equipment slot and earns red tech points for winning fights. On PlayStation and Xbox, update 1.009.1 made allied zombies fight again after their weapons had stopped dealing damage

38+JobWhat the Patch Notes SayCaretakerWorks from a station and goes out to work, including at quarry objects. Since update 1.009 a caretaker can be picked up or inspected while it is outGarden and vineyard workerHarvests crops from the garden and vineyard assistant stations. Since update 1.009 a harvest that keeps failing is left for the playerKitchen workerCooks dishes. Update 1.006 stopped kitchen zombies using up or burning ingredients without producing the dishSawmill, mine, clay pit and sand pit workerCarries the result of each job back before starting the next onePorterNamed as a zombie role. Update 1.010 on PC stopped the zombie porter walking through factory wallsGear supplyZombies provide gears for conveyor belts, more of them with the Belt Master perk since update 1.010 on PCFighterCan be equipped with a weapon and earns red tech points for winning fights. On PlayStation and Xbox, update 1.009.1 made allied zombies fight again after their weapons had stopped dealing damageSupplier (Zavhoz)Works in the Quarry Zone. The console release of update 1.007 fixed a zombie's earned experience resetting when its occupation was changed to ZavhozLoaderCarries resources; the console release of update 1.007 fixed a loader refusing to carry themPike zombieA combat zombie; the console release of update 1.007 fixed it attacking in the wrong direction

3939 The studio's 2 October 2026 plans add more: zombie helpers that gather crafted resources and restart crafts in Kilns and Furnaces, zombie farmers that collect Peat and start new crafts at Compost Heaps, a reworked Panic Reduction system and cremation for zombies. None of these had shipped by 13 October 2026.

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4141 Not Yet Disclosed

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43-Named zombie ranks, tiers or classes on either the labour or the combat side, beyond the archers the combat log mentionsThe numeric effect of skill progression on work speed or combat performanceUpkeep, fatigue or decay rules for a zombie once assignedThe size of the zombie cap. A cap exists, with a Panic debuff for going over it, but its number has not been publishedThe recipe, facility or inputs required for corruption embalmingNamed individual zombies, including any that have earned a name in the fiction

43+Named zombie ranks or tiers, and a full list of roles beyond those named in patch notes and the archers the combat log mentionsThe numeric effect of skill progression on work speed or combat performanceUpkeep, fatigue or decay rules for a zombie once assignedThe size of the zombie cap. A cap exists, with a Panic debuff for going over it, but its number has not been publishedThe recipe, facility or inputs required for corruption embalmingNamed individual zombies, including any that have earned a name in the fiction

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