Graveyard Keeper 2 runs on a six-day week tied to the seven deadly sins — the player is the missing Greed — and your first in-game day starts the chain of graveyard work, cooking, crafting, and weekly NPC visits. The priorities below get you from the dungeon to a working Inquisitor base in the opening week.
More context
Day 1: build the Cooking Hearth first (4 stone + 2 firewood), clear churchyard debris, extract Blood and Fat from the first corpse, replace broken grave markers, and place the Sawhorse, Carpenter Workbench, Stone Cutter, and Furnace I with two-tile zombie corridors. First-week research order: Anatomy → Woodworking → Stone Carving → Basic Theology. By the end of the first week you unlock Oiled Wood, Stone Polishing, Brick Making, Simple Weapons, Tool Rack, Pottery I, Simple Barricades, your first zombie workers, and entry to the Port Area and Astrologer's Tower.
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What to build on Day 1
Pick mushrooms and berries
Pick wild mushrooms and berries near the cottage for your first stamina food.
Build the Cooking Hearth
Build the Cooking Hearth first: 4 stone + 2 firewood. Cooking turns raw food into stamina-efficient meals.
Clear churchyard debris
Clear debris and weeds from the churchyard to start raising Church quality.
Extract Blood and Fat
Extract Blood and Fat from the first corpse at the morgue. Both add a White Skull and remove a Red Skull with no penalty.
Replace broken grave markers
Replace broken grave markers with wooden crosses (+1 rating) and wooden fences (+2 rating).
Lay down workstations
Place a Sawhorse next to the timber stockpile, a Carpenter Workbench against the workshop wall, a Stone Cutter in the southern yard, and a Furnace I near the coal and sand source. Leave two-tile corridors so zombie workers don't get stuck.
First-week research order
Anatomy
Unlocks the autopsy rule.
Woodworking
Unlocks gravestone crafting.
Stone Carving
Unlocks gravestone crafting.
Basic Theology
Unlocks sermon rewards.
What unlocks by the end of the first week
By the end of the first week you also unlock Oiled Wood, Stone Polishing, Brick Making, Simple Weapons, Tool Rack, Pottery I, and Simple Barricades, encounter your first zombie workers, and begin entering the Town where the Port Area and the Astrologer's Tower open up.
Best Day 1 foods by stamina
| Food | Stamina return | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Baked Apples | +25 | No fuel needed. |
Cooked Mushrooms | +18 | Cheapest cooked meal. |
Berry Skewers | +32 | Good for travel. |
Honey Pastry | +65 | Mid-game meal; also +10% movement speed. |
Golden Veggie Salad | +85 | Late-game expedition food; also +3 Mastery. |
Next steps after the first week
Push Church quality to 10 and deliver the first sermon to Sister Agatha. Raise Graveyard quality to 10 to unlock Herbert's "Grave Expectations" quest, then to 20 to unlock Agatha's corpse-delivery chain. Reach 10 reputation with Agatha at the Crossroads and ask her about the Donkey to open "The Nun with the Hairy Ass"; if you need more reputation, "Nun of Your Business" accepts 5 Clean Paper + 2 Ink for 10 Agatha reputation. Move into the Factory once Jack's questline progresses and the northern town square is under your control.