The opening of Graveyard Keeper 2 has two connected goals: bury the Donkey’s first corpse and give its Burial Certificate to the head guard, then raise Graveyard Quality to 10. The certificate does not require a perfect body or a finished cemetery. Get the first burial done, return to the guard, and improve the graveyard while you establish wood, food and basic decorations. This walkthrough follows the September 2026 demo; check the quests and recipes in your installed version if they have changed.
From the dungeon to the Inquisitor base
Use the pickaxe in the opening dungeon to free Larry. The note leads to a hidden stash with a rusty key, a royal signet and an Inquisitor medallion. Use the key on the locked door. The signet and medallion help the guards take you for an Inquisitor, and you show the medallion at the village gate during the escape. That gate comes before the burial certificate.
At the guards’ workshop, get armor and a sword before the larger zombie fight. Retreat with the guards, then follow them west to the abandoned Inquisitor base. The house, morgue and graveyard are here. The Donkey’s first delivery gives you the burial job; clearing the whole property can wait.
The Donkey’s first body
When the Donkey arrives with the corpse, carry it to the autopsy table before heading to the graveyard. Look at the body’s skulls on the autopsy screen. White skulls help a burial’s quality; red skulls work against it.
For this first body, blood and fat are low-risk removals. Leave organs that require a higher autopsy skill, since an early attempt can cause a surgeon’s error. The certificate does not require a perfect corpse.
Burial Certificate: the complete hand-in
Carry the body outside and place a grave at the blueprint desk. Dig with the shovel, put the body in and fill the hole. Add a sign to finish the grave and collect the Burial Certificate. If you are still holding the body, placing the grave outline alone has not buried it.
Take the certificate to the head guard at the Crossroads. Showing it advances the burial objective; it is not the item you used to pass the village gate earlier. Graveyard Quality 10 is a later target, so you can speak to the guard before improving every plot.
When the burial does not register
Check the chest in the graveyard for a shovel and Wooden Signs if you cannot dig or finish the first grave. If you have the tools but no certificate, make sure the body is in the grave, the hole is filled and a sign is installed. Look for the certificate at the grave after adding the sign; placing the outline alone does not award it.
If the certificate is already in your inventory, return to the head guard at the Crossroads. Once he has seen it, the next graveyard target is Quality 10. Improve the graves you already have then; the first certificate is not held back by a low graveyard score.
Graveyard Quality 10 after the first certificate
Look at the whole cemetery’s Quality total and the skull value of each occupied plot. Later Donkey deliveries give you more bodies to bury, while grave decorations improve the plots you already use. A marker must be installed on a filled grave; keeping a Wooden Sign in the chest does not change that plot’s displayed value. Recheck the total after each burial or decoration so you know whether another body or a better marker is the next useful step.
Autopsy skill limits which removals are safe. If a body arrives with red skulls, consider the blood and fat removals you can perform confidently before attempting a more advanced organ. A surgeon’s error can worsen the body. You can make progress with several ordinary graves instead of waiting for one flawless corpse, and the certificate hand-in never depends on reaching Quality 10 first.
Wood, food and the technology tree
Wood processing supports both the cemetery and the rest of the base. Cut the trees near the Inquisitor house, then follow the wood and woodworking unlocks in the technology tree to make boards and basic construction materials. Check a station’s displayed recipe before gathering for it. An item in your inventory does not bypass a missing technology or station unlock.
Chopping, mining, crafting and tending graves consume energy. Berries and mushrooms are useful while exploring but restore little per item. Sleep when you need a larger reset, and work toward gardening and cooking once the burial route is moving. In the demo, the early cooking path can lead through Gardening and Millstone to bread made with the house oven. This gives you a more sustainable food supply before longer crafting or cemetery sessions.
Watch the purple Insanity meter beside energy. Corpse handling and other work can raise it, cutting into the energy available for the next job. Rest or use an available way to lower it before it becomes the reason you cannot finish a planned batch of work. Group nearby jobs at the morgue and graveyard, then make a separate trip for village dialogue or supplies.
Different activities also produce different technology-point colors. Chopping and working materials feed building progress; gathering and gardening support food unlocks; autopsy work advances anatomy. If a blueprint remains unavailable despite your points, inspect its prerequisites and current quest. Collecting more points alone cannot replace a required story step.
Fishing and advanced work can follow the cemetery
The demo’s fishing rod is tied to the twins and their pottery request. Plan that as a later food and income route after you can unlock and make the requested pottery, not as a way to feed yourself before the first burial. Advanced autopsy upgrades and elaborate grave decorations can wait as well. The reliable opening sequence is to establish the base, finish one legal burial, speak to the guard, then use later bodies, woodworking and simple grave improvements to reach Quality 10.
If progress stalls, identify which quest is actually active. No certificate means checking the filled and marked grave. A certificate in your inventory means returning to the guard. A cemetery total below 10 calls for more usable plots, safer corpse preparation or an installed decoration. When crafting is blocked, read the technology and station requirements before collecting more of the same resource.
Sources: official demo page, full-game listing, and Pro Game Guides’ hands-on demo guide.