We all love the world of Graveyard Keeper. You probably enjoy exploring it and uncovering new pieces of its story, and we really enjoy creating it.
In the original Graveyard Keeper, we showed you only a small part of this world. But through character stories, distant locations, and roads that led somewhere but remained blocked, we gave you a glimpse of something much bigger.
In the sequel, we’re opening up a much larger part of it.
You’ve already read about The Town, but you’ll also explore its southern outskirts. There will be another village and another tavern, another forest and another swamp, another church and another graveyard.
They are all different, yet somehow familiar, and all of them are created with love and filled with small details.
More importantly, we want the story to make you feel that there is a vast world somewhere beyond the mist of our imagination. A world waiting to come alive and reveal its stories.
You’ll meet traders bringing goods from foreign lands to the Town. You’ll see refugees searching for new homes in a city infested with zombies.
Apparently, even a zombie-infested Town can look attractive when the rent is low enough.
It’s difficult to tell you about the story without spoiling it…
We’re really looking forward to the moment when you’ll finally be able to play the game and discover everything for yourself.
Still, we need to tell you something to prepare your imagination.
One of our biggest challenges was creating a story that would be interesting and understandable for players beginning their journey with the sequel. We think we’ve managed it.
But of course, we’ve also prepared plenty for our loyal fans who have been waiting all these years.
Eight years have passed since the release of the original game. The same eight years have passed in the world of Graveyard Keeper.
Without its Keeper, the world continued moving in its own direction.
To be honest, nothing particularly good happened without your passion and our imagination.
Now we’ve all grown older and, perhaps, a little wiser. The story has grown alongside its creators and is preparing new challenges for you, our dear players.
Sometimes it can be difficult to fix the world around you.
Fortunately, it is still possible in the fairy-tale world of Graveyard Keeper.
Making sequels is hard…
We had to preserve everything you loved about the original game…and also a few things you hated.
He-he.
At the same time, we needed to bring you something fresh and interesting. We read your comments, studied your feedback, and took notes.
After release, we hope to continue improving and expanding the game according to your wishes.
We’re keeping the same Keeper.
Well…not exactly the same Keeper.
Those of you who played the Stranger Sins DLC may already have the right idea.
We’re also keeping the familiar progression through the Technology Tree, while introducing a new talent system designed to make the grind you love so much more enjoyable.
Sadly, there will be less grinding this time.
We hope you can forgive us.
From the trailer, you may have already guessed that several iconic characters from the original game will return.
Most of the characters in Graveyard Keeper 2 will appear for the first time, but you’ll also meet some old friends and learn what happened to others.
And by the way…your talking skull companion is not Gerry.
It’s simply another charming talking skull with a dark sense of humor.
Just imagine having two talking skulls in the same game. How would anyone know which one was which?
We thought about this for a long time…and decided there would be no Teleportstone.
Plenty of players couldn’t find it or figure out how to use it anyway.
Instead, you’ll be able to enjoy long walks through our carefully crafted world.
A world now made in 3D. If you missed it, check out DevLog #3 to see how well it works.
However, should you decide that you have already enjoyed enough walking, you’ll be able to use Milestones to fast-travel between unlocked locations.
Some players didn’t like the fact that important quest characters visited the Village from the Town only once a week.
Now that the Town is actually part of the game, there is nowhere mysterious for them to arrive from. They will usually remain at their regular locations.
However, we still want you to plan your week carefully, so certain mechanics connected to these characters will only be available on their designated days.
There are many other small and large features and improvements throughout the game, alongside completely new mechanics such as zombie battles and conveyor-belt factories.
But we’ve done our best to preserve the spirit of the original Graveyard Keeper.
So prepare yourself.
Find your old paper notebook, sharpen your pencil, and start waiting for the release of Graveyard Keeper 2.
As we mentioned before, we’ve become smarter and more experienced since developing the original game.
We even have a Quality Assurance team now!
While you’re reading this devlog, we’re deep in the process of testing, fixing, and polishing the game.
With the blessing of the red-eyed Old God, we’ll be ready very soon.