Guides
Graveyard Keeper 2 First Hour
A calm, verified plan for your opening session — no guessed numbers, just demo-checked steps.
Searchers looking for a "first hour" or "first week" plan want one thing: what to do, in order, without wasting the opening. This is the demo-checked route. Last verified: 2026-09-21 (demo build). Re-check after the 2026-09-22 launch..
Minutes 0–15: look around, gather everything
- Follow the tutorial prompts — they walk you through movement and the first interactions near the graveyard.
- Chop and mine along the path — trees and stone clusters around the churchyard are your first income and first tech points.
- Grab loose items — sticks and stones on the ground go into the hotbar (slots 1–4 in the demo).
- Watch the top-left HUD — energy drains as you work; the red/green/blue counters tick up as you act.
Minutes 15–40: first tech and first builds
- Open the tech tree — the Building category holds woodworking and stoneworking basics (verified node names: The Concept of Wood, Woodworking I, Chopping, The Concept of Stone).
- Unlock wood processing first — planks feed more recipes than anything else early on.
- Place a sawhorse and a furnace — build mode: [Mouse0] place, [R] rotate, [Esc] exit.
- Set up near your stockpile — walking time is the real early-game tax.
Minutes 40–60+: graveyard duties and the town
- Check the graveyard — graves and decorations show score bubbles; even cheap décor moves the total (the demo shows a skull-badged rating top-right).
- Open the Quests tab — the town restoration line points at your next goal.
- Visit the Astrologer's Tower — the demo's rune circle hints at the alchemy system. Alchemy hub
- Log off with a stockpile — end the session with wood, stone and points banked for the next run.
What not to do in the first hour
- Don't chase rare resources — early progression runs on wood and stone.
- Don't unlock tech you can't use yet; points are scarcer than they look. Early tech order
- Don't ignore negative decoration bubbles in the graveyard — placement can cost rating.
- Don't hoard energy: it refills, wasted trips don't.
FAQ
FAQ
Common questions about this topic.
What should I do first in Graveyard Keeper 2?
Follow the tutorial, then gather wood and stone around the churchyard — the opening route is in this guide, minute by minute.
How long is the Graveyard Keeper 2 demo?
The demo covers the opening progression (first tech tiers, graveyard basics and the Astrologer's Tower); progress does not carry over to the full game.
Should I focus the graveyard or the town first?
The graveyard first — it sits at the centre of the opening systems; the town questline opens alongside it.