Hello Gamers! this is @tsukuyomi once more and today I'll talk to you about an Alpha-stage game that's been garnering some attention here and there, and I have my first impressions on it!

But before we jump onto it, remember to follow @SteemGC for more content like this, Resteem, Vote and Comment if you liked the article. Alright, let's go!

Graveyard Keeper First Impressions: Ambitious but overwhelming.

So, in case you have not heard of it, Graveyard Keeper is a game developed by Lazy Bear Games, compared a lot to Stardew Valley due to its farming, repetitive and energy-based system and still in Alpha Stage and its being officially released August 15th! Right around the corner, so, I decided to give it a go before release and let you know my impressions.

Graveyard Keeper is about a lot of things, you need to tend your Graveyard, but you also should help the economy of the neighboring village, something that will benefit you along the way too, and your benefit is paramount, which is why everything is allowed, ethical and unethical methods of aquiring what you need are possible and influence plays a big role on how you and your holy ground is perceived and grows.

You'll get bodies a few times a week, you must bury them, and that's pretty much the only set responsibility, whatever you do with the body other than that is up to you. Also, the love and attention you put into your work, your place and your image will get you closer to your own goals, specially the ultimate goal of coming back home after getting to your Graveyard in a confusing (to the character) manner. However once you're there you could as well accept your fate and focus on it, whatever you want to do is valid and so are the means.

Before we begin I want to leave clear that this is not a full on review, this is a first impressions. The game is not finished and I have not explored it through and through, so this is a simple First Impressions to see if you're up to get it or not.

So, I'll split these impressions in two for the sake of simplicity: Pros and Cons, and I'll discuss them separated from each other, I will touch every aspect that I took notice of but within those categories and then in the end I'll make an overall opinion of this game that I was, and still am very excited about.

Pros

Graveyard Keeper has an upperhand on Stardew Valley, its comparison counterpart, in the fact that there is so much more content apparent, so many things to do, you will certainly need time and attention to do them. You can craft, decorate, influence, trade, plan, explore... you can do so many things that you might take a few runs or a very long single run to be able to grasp everything you're being offered.

Replayability is always very valuable in games and I don't doubt that Graveyard Keeper has a lot going on for itself in that aspect. In the same manner, it allows you to make runs that are different from one another, you can do things in very distinct manners, taking one or several paths and becoming specialized in the same things over and over or you can explore and leave some aspects to the side in favor of new ones each time.

The way Lazy Bear deals with morals is also refreshing and challenging. You have a Holy ground to take care of but you can take financial advantage of the bodies that arrive to your Graveyard, a dichotomy that might be hard to get over for those who love righteous and goody characters. Everything is on the table and what's wrong and right is nobody's business, the business is gaining benefit and making things easier. You can do things in the legal way or you can find easier sources, paths and outcomes, no matter the morals. This is a take that I'm thankful for, because I like games that challenge the Heroic nature of the common protagonist out there in many games.

Also, as a plus, art is gorgeous and polished and some animations are very well done and worked. It looks like a labor of love, much like Chucklefish's Stardew Valley, and comparison is fair, there are many elements that they share: Farming, trading, producing, exploring... common themes in two pixel art, lore extensive games.

Cons

Now, with all of that said, Graveyard Keeper commits the same mistake many games committed before and will commit in the future: It's too ambitious to be easily picked up. I know that there's no need for a linear quest, I know that there's no need for tutorials or set goals, I understand that, however, the game is tremendously vast in content and things you can do, and players need some sort of guide or a gentle streamline to navigate everything, something that Graveyard lacks so far.

Another thing is that everything is so complex you constantly need to find other things to get the other things that you needed for the thing that you wanted in the first place, sounds confusing right? But it's just like that. You can craft, but crafting is so detailed that you're going to end up needing a whole bunch of things to be able to make even the simplest items. Also, questing is a lot like that too, if you want one thing, you'll need to complete a couple other goals in order to get that. It's the neverending cycle of quest spawning from other quests that gets tiresome and mentally exhausting, not to mention the amount of time it takes you to get to places.

Some animations are a bit off and look strange, however I'll give that to its alpha state, so that's to be expected.

Overall

Graveyard Keeper wants to be a massive game in which every single player will find something that fulfills them, the problem with their ambition is that there are only so many things a game can be before turning into an intimidating enviroment that shows you a lot but doesn't let you see what to do with what you're shown.

We are in a time of making games that don't need to take you by the hand to navigate them, however, that doesn't mean there should not be coherence to everything in it, or at least a small bit of intuitive direction. Graveyard Keeper wants to be the all-in-one dream game, but it forgets about the more casual player and the very much needed reasonably placed entry level.

And that's it for today! I hope you enjoyed my first impressions of this game.

You can get the Alpha of Graveyard Keeper over at their website. All images are from Graveyard Keeper's official steam website.

Thank you very much for reading, I'll see you next week with the news!

Follow @SteemGC for more articles like this and leave a comment with your opinions, upvote and resteem if you liked the article and see you on my next post! 🦊