Graveyard Keeper 2 Beginner Guide: Your First Days Done Right
Updated 2026-09-30 · Fan-made guide for Graveyard Keeper 2 · Not affiliated with Lazy Bear Games
The best early-game plan in Graveyard Keeper 2 is simple: bury your first corpse to meet Herbert, establish steady food and wood production, then open the church and hold your first sermon. Do those four things in order and the rest of the graveyard falls into place — here is exactly how to run your first days.
Day one: bury a corpse and reach Herbert
Your opening move is the same in every good Graveyard Keeper 2 walkthrough: deal with the corpse lying in front of your graveyard. Bury it properly — or prepare it first, if you already have the station — because the burial quest is what introduces you to Herbert and pushes the story forward.
Don't over-invest in that first grave. A basic grave is enough to progress; save your better headstones and fences for corpses you actually want to showcase. Grave quality is a system you upgrade later, not on day one.
While you are out there, talk to every character you pass. The village and the town are gated behind conversations, and quest chains in Graveyard Keeper 2 almost always start from a simple chat you skipped.
Set up food, materials and a fishing rod
Energy is your real currency in the early game, and food is how you refill it. Establish a food loop early: crops or foraged meals will carry you much further than eating raw ingredients, and cooking is cheap to start.
Wood is the other bottleneck. Chop consistently and keep a small buffer of boards, because nearly every early technology and building wants lumber in some form. If you are ever standing around with nothing queued, you are wasting daylight — there should always be a crafting queue running.
A fishing rod is worth getting sooner than it looks. Fishing spots give food and materials, and several early quests expect you to have one. It is one of those 'establish early, benefit forever' habits.
Open the church and hold sermons
Once Herbert's requests push you that way, open the church and hold your first sermon. Sermons generate faith and community standing, which unlock more of the game's economy — think of the church as your second production line.
Keep preparing Herbert's graveyard work alongside this. The quest rhythm in Graveyard Keeper 2 alternates between graveyard upkeep and village errands, and staying one quest ahead of Herbert keeps the story moving without dead days.
Unlock pottery and start thinking ahead
Pottery is a classic early unlock recommendation because it converts clay into goods that sell and build. Around this stage, grab cheap quality-of-life technologies before expensive flashy ones — you want your resource loop widening, not deepening.
A community starter guide also notes the five skill types — axe, shovel, cog, book and skull — which map to the ten tools you equip. Matching the right tool to the right job matters as your workload grows, because tool-dependent actions slow to a crawl with the wrong kit.
Mistakes new keepers make
- Skipping food production: running out of energy mid-quest costs you whole in-game days.
- Decorating graves you don't need to: save premium decorations for quality corpses.
- Ignoring battle preparations: battles unlock areas, so arriving unprepared stalls progression.
- Hoarding every resource: sell your surplus — early money accelerates everything else.
- Chasing late-game tech early: pottery, woodworking and basic metallurgy pay off faster.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I do first in Graveyard Keeper 2?
Bury the first corpse to meet Herbert, then set up food and wood production. Opening the church for your first sermon comes right after, since sermons unlock the faith economy.
Is Graveyard Keeper 2 beginner friendly?
Yes — the early game teaches its systems through Herbert's quests. Follow the burial → food/wood → church order and you will rarely feel stuck, though the tech tree is deep enough that reading a guide saves days.
How long is the early game?
Most players clear the opening loop — burial, village access, church, pottery — within their first few hours. Automation and the Town expansion extend well beyond that.