Graveyard Keeper – Walkthrough – Part 1 – The First Days and the Calendar!

Welcome to the complete walkthrough of Graveyard Keeper – Part 1, focused on your first in-game days, how to understand the weekly calendar, how to deal with your first corpse, and how to unlock one of the most important items in the whole game: the Teleportstone.

This guide is perfect for beginners who want fast progression, avoid early-game mistakes, and understand where to focus their time and stamina.

Summary

This first part is an intensive introduction to surviving in Graveyard Keeper. The main focus is on understanding the weekly calendar (the most important element in the game!), completing the initial tutorials with the ghost Gary, handling your first corpse, and, most crucially, acquiring the Teleportstone (your instant travel ticket!).

Progress Checkpoint	Key Action	What You Unlock
Clock & NPCs	Learn weekly NPC schedule	Know when quests and events happen
First Body	Meet Gary, take corpse to Morgue	Start morgue workflow
Autopsy & Burial	Remove Flesh, craft grave items, bury body	Get Burial Certificate (money)
Bishop	Talk on Purple Day	Cemetery goal: reach Quality 5
Manuel & Teleport	Sell Certificate, buy Teleportstone	Unlock fast travel
Blacksmith & Combat	Kill Slimes, deliver Green Jelly	Get Simple Iron Parts
Infrastructure	Build Sawhorse, Furnace, Anvil	Produce Planks, Firewood, Iron Parts
Astrologer	Visit on Blue Day using Teleport	Continue main quest (needs Skull later)
Advanced Autopsy	Extract Blood and Fat	Improve body quality (more White Skulls)

Step-by-Step

Here are your objectives and actions in chronological order.

Phase 1: The Clock and the NPCs

1. Your absolute first priority is understanding the clock/calendar system in the top-left corner. Unlike other games, time here is measured by days of the week, and each day features a vital NPC crucial for story progression. If they’re not there, it’s not their day!
   • Day = Diligence, Color = Purple, NPC = Bishop, Main Focus = Church and Cemetery
   • Day = Lust, Color = Red, NPC = Ms. Charm, Main Focus = Relationships/Tavern
   • Day = Feast, Color = Orange, NPC = Merchant, Main Focus = Buying and Selling
   • Day = Worship, Color = Green, NPC = Snake/Rat, Main Focus = Dungeon and Secrets
   • Day = Wrath, Color = Dark Red, NPC = Inquisitor, Main Focus = Burning and Witch Hill
   • Day = Faith, Color = Blue, NPC = Astrologer, Main Focus = Knowledge and Magic (Lighthouse)

Phase 2: The Beginning and the First Body

1. Action: Immediately following the initial cutscene, follow the hint and dig up the grave to find Gary, your first guide (a talking skull/ghost).
2. Arrival: The Donkey delivers the first corpse. Take it to the Morgue (in the cellar of the church).

Phase 3: Autopsy and Basic Burial

1. Action (Autopsy): Place the body on the table. Initially, you can only extract Flesh. Remove it.
   • What Happened: You successfully removed a Red Skull (defect), improving the body’s quality (more White Skulls).
2. Action (Cemetery): Go to the Cemetery’s Crafting Workbench.
   • Craft a Grave Fence and a Wooden Grave (requires Wooden Sticks from bushes).
   • Dig the hole and bury the body.
3. Item: You receive the Burial Certificate.

Phase 4: The Bishop and Cemetery Quality

1. Action: On Purple Day, the Bishop appears in front of the church. Talk to him.
2. Checkpoint: He demands you reach Cemetery Quality Level 5 to unlock access to the church.
   • Tip: Clean the cemetery! Remove all weeds, bushes, and scattered rocks. This removes negative penalties and quickly raises the level toward the first checkpoint.

Phase 5: Meeting Manuel and the Teleport Stone (Priority!)

1. Action: Head to the Village, far to the right. Find the Dead Horse Tavern and talk to Manuel.
2. Selling: Sell your Burial Certificate. You will receive 1 Silver Coin and 50 Copper (your first cash).
3. CRUCIAL Item: Buy the Teleportstone. This item costs 1 Silver and 50 Copper and allows instant teleportation to discovered locations (your house, the Tavern, the Lighthouse).

Phase 6: Meeting the Blacksmith and Combat

1. Action: Continue past the Tavern to the right to find the Blacksmith (Moacir).
2. Mission: He will give you a Sword and ask you to kill Green Slimes (Melecas).
3. Combat: Use the Spacebar to attack (combat is straightforward initially).
4. Reward: After delivering the Green Jelly, you earn Simple Iron Parts (essential for crafting).

Phase 7: Unlocking Basic Infrastructure

1. Priority: Focus on tools and resource production before doing anything else.
2. Technology (Nature): Unlock Sawhorse.
   • Action: Build the Sawhorse. Use it to turn Logs (from chopping down small trees) into Planks and Wooden Wedges.
3. Construction: Build the Primitive Furnace (requires Planks and Stone Pieces).
4. Technology (Metalworking): Unlock the Wooden Anvil.
   • Action: Build it. This allows you to craft Nails and Simple Iron Parts using Iron Ingot.
5. Fuel and Iron: You need Iron and Firewood (Fuel).
   • Temporary Iron: Go up the hill behind your house. You can find small deposits of iron ore there (they do not respawn, use wisely).
   • Firewood: Unlock and build the Wood Chopping Stand. This converts Logs into Firewood, which is a much more efficient fuel for the Furnace than Sticks.

Phase 8: The Ghost, the Astrologer, and the Skull

1. Gary Quest: Give the beer (given by the Blacksmith) to Gary. He tells you to talk to the Astrologer to find your way home.
2. Action (Blue Day): Use the Teleportstone to travel to the Lighthouse (a newly discovered location, far right) and speak to the Astrologer.
3. Final Mission Setup: He will ask you to bring him a Skull.
   • Next Step: You must unlock the Skull Extraction ability in the Technology Tree (Anatomy and Theology).

Phase 9: Advanced Autopsy (Blood and Fat)

1. Action: When the next body arrives, unlock the ability to Extract Blood and Fat.
2. Strategy: This is a vital step for improving body quality. Successfully extracting Blood and Fat will convert Red Skulls into White Skulls.
3. Result: Burying a body with 4 or more White Skulls gives a huge boost to your Cemetery Quality toward the Bishop’s Level 5 checkpoint.

Useful Tips

• Teleportstone > Everything: If you only do one thing from this guide, make sure it is buying the Teleportstone as soon as you sell your first Burial Certificate. It saves hours of walking.
• Plan by the Clock: Never forget the weekly schedule. If you need to talk to the Astrologer, you must wait for Blue Day. Don’t waste energy running around on the wrong day.
• Resource Management: Your energy (Stamina – blue bar) is your main limitation. Eat collected berries, apples, and mushrooms to restore it.
• Technology First: Focus on unlocking the basic crafting technologies (Sawhorse, Furnace, Anvil) early on to become self-sufficient in Planks, Firewood, and Iron Parts.
• Don’t Rush the Cemetery: The Donkey will start charging for deliveries once your Cemetery is repaired and the Church is opened. It’s often recommended to delay the full repair until you have your basic infrastructure established.
• Advanced Quests: The game throws very late-game quests at you immediately (like finding the Stamp for Manuel). Don’t stress over them. If you don’t know how to do it, it’s a quest for “much later.”

What Comes Next in Part 2

The next part of your journey will likely focus on:

• Perfect Autopsy: A deeper dive into how the Morgue table works to maximize white skulls on every corpse, including managing the risk of surgical error.
• Acquiring a Skull: Unlocking the ability to extract a Skull and delivering it to the Astrologer to advance the main questline.
• Infrastructure Progress: Building more tools and machines, or potentially fixing the Bridge to the Swamp to access infinite Iron Ore deposits.