Graveyard Keeper 2 Walkthrough — Main Story

Quick answer: The main line runs: opening chapters → first burial → Herbert (certificate) → Herm (5 Wheat) → Twins (6 Clay Plates → fishing rod) → Jack's boat (5 Planks + 5 Bronze Details) → Nun opens the church → Wrath-day sermon for Faith → hand Herbert 3 Faith → Barracks quality 12 + Magic bell → first zombie battle → the port. Sleep before pushing to the port — the "continue" option reloads your last sleep save.

Scope — read this first. The steps and counts below were verified against the release-build demo, which covered the game up to The Town. Post-launch guides confirm the same story beats, but no source has published exact counts for the content past the demo. So: treat quest order and prerequisites as reliable, and treat every specific number as demo-verified, retail-unconfirmed unless the line says otherwise. Nothing below has been invented to fill a gap.

Part 1 — The opening (4 fixed chapters)

The demo opens with four fixed chapters that don't appear on the Story Tree: waking chained in the Inquisition's prison, the empty town, the defence of the town square (you cannot lose — at low health damage stops and the retreat starts), and the retreat to the abandoned Inquisitor base that becomes your home. Keep the pickaxe on your hotbar in the prison.

Part 2 — Herbert & the first burial

The Story Tree unlocks when you're sent to find Herbert, Head of the Guards — he stands at the Crossroads east of your house and is the hub NPC for the whole main line.
The talking donkey brings the first body to the morgue. The morgue holds one body at the start, so bury before the next delivery.
Put the body on Autopsy Table I (opens the Anatomy tab with two free techs). Pick a pocket before closing the window — free blue tech point. Remove Fat and Blood from pockets (1 red skull each); leave Flesh.
Place an Empty Grave, dig, lay the body, fill with soil, attach a Wooden Sign, then place the marker with the hammer (top slot). Full fix: can't place a grave marker.
Burying drops a Burial Certificate and opens the Story Tree. "Certificate, Please": show it to Herbert — he only inspects it, so you keep it and can sell it.

Part 3 — The village opens

Completing "Certificate, Please" opens the village (south of the Crossroads), starts regular donkey deliveries (at most one body every other day at 13:12, Gluttony/Lust/Pride days), raises town quality by 10 (demo cap: 10), and starts "Grave Expectations".
"What the Fairy?": talk to Januarius in the tavern to open trading. He buys Burial Certificates at 1 silver each; the first five sold each week give +1 happiness.
"Supply and Demand": meet Herm at his store — he sells Wheat seed and Bronze Scrap, the source of the whole bronze chain.

Part 4 — Wheat & the fishing rod

"Planted and Delivered": bring Herm 5 Wheat. Needs the Gardening tech (5 green), a Garden Bed, and the shovel on your hotbar to plant.
"Two Peas in a Pod": the Merchant sends you south across the bridge into Twins Land to Jeffry near the Hangman's House. He wants 6 Clay Plates; the reward is the fishing rod.
Making the plates: buy Pottery I (10 red + 5 green) → build a Potter's Wheel (2 Planks + 1 Stone) → dig 4 clay southeast of your house → 2 clay = 3 plates. Details: pottery and clay.
Both quests paid 5 village reputation in the demo, and two later steps needed reputation 10 each. Correction: post-launch sources say the retail build has no reputation stat — gratitude is the system that replaced it. Read these as gratitude payouts and gratitude gates (see Town Restoration).

Part 5 — Jack's boat & the bronze chain

"Grave Expectations" requires graveyard quality 10. One demo grave scores at most 3 (Wooden Cross I +2, Wooden Fence I +1 — capped by the body's white skulls, reduced by red). Plan roughly four good graves, or three plus an Exterior Bench I (+3).
"Jack in a Boat": Jack appears at the house at night. He wants 5 Wooden Planks, then 5 Bronze Details, plus the Twins persuaded to row (demo gate: village reputation 10 — read as a gratitude gate in the retail build). Ask if he's ready and he sails at the next sleep.
Bronze Details chain: Bronze Scrap → Furnace I → 2 Ingots per 3 scrap → 6 details per ingot at a Wooden Anvil with a Hardening Bucket built beside it (4 Planks + 8 Bronze Nails). Costs 45 red across three Metallurgy techs.
Trap: you can't sleep at full energy — burn 1 energy before each story-advancing sleep, especially Jack's sailing sleep.

Part 6 — Church & Faith

After Jack sails, the Nun arrives. She opens the church (east of the Morgue); clear rubble and old pots, install benches (8 planks + 6 rocks to start).
Sermons happen once a week, only on Wrath day (the 6th day). Use a Basic Prayer (from the Nun, or crafted at a Writing Desk) at the lectern; Faith drops on the floor in front, money goes to the donation box.
Parishioner count = the lower of your happiness pool and the church's seat limit. Demo happiness caps at 10, so 10 parishioners max. A Basic Prayer at 10 visitors pays about 3 Faith.
"Fighting Spirit Required": hand Herbert 3 Faith — keep ~3 in reserve for this or you wait a full week.

Part 7 — Barracks & the first battle

"Swords and Bell" (either order, reported to Herbert in the Barracks): Barracks quality 12 + a Magic bell.
Barracks 12 = two Barricade I with paid mercenaries (each barricade +2, four mercenaries +8 — only while paid) or six barricades with none. Each barricade: 2 Reinforced Planks, 6 Bronze Nails, 2 Short Logs.
Reinforced Planks need Oiled Planks (Melted Fat chain): Alchemy, Distillation tech (5 red + 5 green) → Distillation Cube → 1 Fat + 2 Clay Plates + fuel = 4 Melted Fat → 4 Oiled Planks per run (enough for two barricades).
Magic bell: forge at an anvil from 1 Blood + 1 Bronze Ingot — recipe unlocks only after Jack's boat has sailed.
The battle button unlocks at defence power 12 with a sword or bow on the hotbar. Losing costs nothing — talk to Herbert and retry.

Part 8 — Past the first battle

Winning the first zombie battle triggers a blacksmith quest. Reaching the port is where the demo stopped: it fired a demo-ending prompt, and choosing "continue" reloaded your last sleep save. Sleep at home before pushing to the port.

In the full game the story continues past this point. TBD: the retail steps beyond the first battle — no source has published a verified sequence, so this walkthrough stops where the verified data stops rather than guessing. Two demo-blocked chains to know about: Repair the Bridge needed Polished Bronze the demo did not contain, and careless spending of scarce paper could lock alchemy options (research budget). Whether both are resolved in the retail build is unconfirmed.

Part 9 — Zombies (parallel side line)

Investigate the hatch in your home; craft two toolboxes (Bronze Details + Planks) to free the Plague Doctor; open the tower with the Inquisitor medallion + paper note.
Craft a Science Kit at the Writing Desk, study a green and a blue item at the Study Table (blood and water are easiest), combine at Laboratory 1 into Dream Dust → 2 free zombies + the cellar.
More zombies: Reanimation Liquid tech (30 red / 40 green / 50 blue — corrected post-launch; an earlier "30 red / 10 green / 10 blue" circulated pre-launch and is wrong) → Resurrection Table in the chamber left of the Morgue → corpse + collar + Reanimation Liquid → resurrect on Snake Day during lightning. Max 3 extra, one per week.
Zombies work only with a matching tool equipped; watch for the supplier-station point-wipe bug (zombie troubleshooting).

Where to go next

Beginner guide — how to start & early tech order · Technology & tech points · Energy, Tired & saving · Combat & the zombie army

Sources: post-launch guides (tposegaming, bonus-action.com, Into Indie Games) plus demo build data (graveyardkeeper2.io), TheGamesWatch, ProdigyGamers, GamesHorizon, XboxPlay and Steam discussion threads. Quest order is verified against the release-build demo and confirmed by post-launch guides; exact counts stay marked as demo-verified. Sections past the first battle are marked TBD until a sourced sequence exists.