Graveyard Keeper

 Rating: 8/10 😼😼😽🙀😿😺😹😸

Ages: 10+ (mostly for theme)

My son bought Graveyard Keeper with all the DLC. I've been thinking about it for a while but haven't grabbed it yet, but I played my son's copy. I'm maybe 1/3 of the way through the game. It's going to be a long haul. There is a lot of resources needed to gather and create.

I'm enjoying the quirkiness of the game. The bits of story I've found so far are amusing. But, and it's a big one, there is so much you have to gather and figure out. This game will not hold your hand. You pretty much have to experiment with everything and keep trying it again and again until you figure out what you need to do to get to that next step so you can figure out how to do the next fifteen steps to finally get that one thing that a character wants. Thank goodness for Google. I'll try it for a while until I get frustrated, then I ask my son to look up a hint or two for me. The alchemy lab in this game is way too complicated. At least it remembers recipes once you figure out the correct combination so you can easily make more.

You also get to make zombies, once you figure out all the steps to make your zombie juice potion. The zombies will do some tasks for you. I'm still trying to figure out which ones. The one that I really really really wish I could hand off to a zombie or three is the stupid fishing minigame. Yes, you need fish and yes, you have to fish for them, and yes, the fishing minigame is horrid. At least the game gives you the option of buying your fish and fish fillets from the fisherman character at the lighthouse. I'm just really hoping I don't need to catch the super-rare fish for a potion somewhere down the line because, frankly, if that becomes necessary to playing the game, I'll quit. I managed to catch one fish and I detest the minigame. It's a deal-breaker for me. Which is sad, because the game is such a fun mix of quirky, dark humor and happy beekeeping and everything in between. Plus it has friendly zombies.

For the first third of the game, I'll give it a solid 8 stars and a thumbs up recommendation, BUT, that might shift as I finish playing through the game.