Graveyard Keeper 2 Known Issues: Bugs, Soft-Locks and Fixes

Graveyard Keeper 2 shipped with a generous helping of bugs, and a hotfix plus four numbered updates in its first ten days have buried most of the nasty ones. What is left falls into three piles: things that are fixed on Steam but not yet on your platform, a few open bugs everywhere, and design quirks that only feel like bugs. This page sorts them, with the fix or the safest workaround for each.

Where each platform stands on 5 October

Which bugs can still bite you depends on your patch. Steam got 1.008 on 2 October; GOG, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo are at least one update behind, and Epic’s version is unconfirmed.

Saving: the bed is your only save button

There is no manual save and no save menu. The game writes your save when the Keeper gets up from the bed in your home. Anything you did since your last sleep is lost if the game crashes or you quit first. Sleep-only saving is among the main complaints in player reviews, so build your play around it:

• Full energy means no sleep. The bed turns you away when your energy bar is full (unless you have Lack of sleep). You cannot save on demand right after waking, so plan a save point after a block of work.
• Sleeping costs time. World time runs 50 times faster in bed and an empty bar takes about 6 in-game hours to refill. An in-game day lasts about 7.5 real minutes, so mind weekday-locked tasks before you lie down.
• Lack of sleep starts after two in-game days awake (about 15 real minutes). While it lasts, every energy point you spend adds 0.5 insanity and insanity cures work at half strength. Sleeping until the bar is full clears it and removes 20 insanity.
• You get a few undo steps. Players report that the load menu keeps your last four saves. Sleep right before a risky step so a clean save sits just behind it.

Save file location on PC

Paste a path into the File Explorer address bar or the Run box (Win + R) and Windows expands %USERPROFILE% for you.

• Steam syncs the .dat and .info files with Steam Cloud.
• GOG has no Galaxy cloud saves for this game. Your manual copy is the only backup you have.
• Switch and Switch 2 support save data cloud.
• Steam Deck runs the Windows build through Proton, so the folder sits inside the game’s Proton prefix (app 4358690). We have not confirmed the exact path; Steam Cloud keeps a copy either way.
• Settings live in the registry, so copying the save folder does not carry over your game settings.

How to back up your save

1. Sleep in bed, let the Keeper get up, then quit the game completely.
2. Open the save folder above.
3. Copy the whole folder somewhere safe and name the copy after the quest you are on. Keep every .dat with its matching .info.
4. To roll back, close the game and copy the files back into the folder.

Back up before the Break Through to the Bathhouse Basement battle, before your first Sauna visit, before upgrading the Jeweler to tier III and before the big late-game choice. Each of those has a bug or a one-way door attached, all covered below.

Demo saves

• Steam: demo progress should carry over by itself. If it did not, copy the .dat and .info pair from the Graveyard Keeper 2 Demo folder into the main Graveyard Keeper 2 folder, or download them from Steam Cloud.
• Consoles: if the pre-order DLC was not installed when you first loaded the demo save (common on PlayStation), install the DLC, then re-import the demo save.
• Switch: an early publisher notice said Switch demo progress does not transfer and advised a new game. That line is no longer on the official known-issues list, so treat it as unconfirmed.
• Demo milestones unlock their Steam achievements retroactively since 1.006.

Crashes, freezes and slowdowns

Memory build-up: the long-session tax

tinyBuild, the publisher, acknowledges that performance degrades over several hours of continuous play on every platform: frame drops, stutter and creeping memory use. Nothing up to 1.008 fixes it. The cure is a routine: sleep, quit to the desktop, relaunch. Do it right after waking, when you have just saved and lose nothing. Even the dead get a rest; give your RAM one too.

PC crash checklist

• Windows 10 21H1 or newer is required (the game runs on Unity 6).
• The minimum spec rose before launch to a 13th-gen Core i3, 6 GB of RAM and a GTX 1650, with 4 GB of storage. A PC that met the original, lower spec may now fall short. Details and tuning are in system requirements.
• Intel 13th or 14th gen K, KF or KS? Update the BIOS first: that crash pattern matches Intel’s own known instability issue on these chips.
• Steam Deck is Verified; the tested profile is in system requirements.
• Keep the newest crash dump and Player.log if you plan to report the crash (see how to report a bug).

Soft-locks and quest blockers

Fixed blockers

If one of these stopped you, update first. The right-hand column is for players still on an older build.

Still open

The late-game soft-lock

One reported soft-lock is serious enough to cost you the ending, and it sits right on top of the biggest story choice. Only open this once you reach the last act of the story, or if you want to plan ahead and do not mind reveals.

Lost items, money and buff bugs

The Study Table, Crematorium, morgue counter, stray research points and soldier rewards are fixed on Steam, GOG, PS5 and Xbox but still listed as broken on PS4, Switch and Switch 2: they are in the console section. Update 1.007 also closed the item duplication tricks (bag to bag, through alchemy and through farmer bags); for income that survives patches, see money-making.

The Sauna penalty in detail

The pre-order Sauna sits left of your base, across the Vineyard Bridge once you repair it. A visit grants Steamed Up: food restores 10% more energy for 60 in-game minutes. When the buff ends, food energy does not return to normal; it stays 10% below normal. Two separate player reports agree, one of them tested in play, and nothing in the patch notes up to 1.008 mentions it.

The accounts disagree on the cure. One description says the penalty lasts only until your next visit; the most detailed report says visiting again changes nothing and only loading a save from before your first visit clears it. If you already went, keep that older save: it is the only cure everyone agrees on. If you have not, a steam bath that may tax every later meal is a poor trade for one hour of slightly better dinners. More on energy and food values in energy and insanity.

The pre-order outfit is a different story: you can only wear it after you research Suit Up! and build a Dresser at home, so check that before assuming it is missing. GOG had no pre-order period, so there is no bonus to restore there.

Zombie and automation glitches

• Kitchen zombies eating or burning ingredients without producing anything, and a zombie at the cooking oven blocking the millstone: fixed in 1.006.
• Farm and fuel workers: the zombie stuck at the firewood holder, wheat following the player and farmers failing to produce were fixed in 1.008.
• Couriers freezing or standing in the wrong spot (the house kitchen, for example), and battle zombies snagging on scenery: partly fixed between 1.005 and 1.008. Players get them moving again by leaving and re-entering the area or reassigning the zombie; this is not an official fix.
• Resurrection: the Resurrection Table losing its prepared state when you left the morgue, and zombies refusing to rise despite meeting every requirement, were fixed in 1.005.
• Battle rewards: zombies earned no red tech points from fights at launch. Since 1.007 they get 50 to 200 per battle.

PS4 and Switch: playing around the patch gap

Until 1.007 reaches PS4, Switch and Switch 2, the publisher lists these eight bugs as still live there:

Balance can differ too. Jack in a Boat still takes 5 Bronze Detail there, since the tools fix is part of 1.007. The launch build also asked 96 power for the Bathhouse Basement battle instead of 88 and gave zombies no red tech points for battles; both had changed by 1.007, but we have not confirmed whether the PS4 and Switch builds carry those changes yet. And until 1.008 reaches consoles, PS5 and Xbox players also lack the bed-crash, endless-loading, Inflation and Linda’s Ball fixes. Every change by version is in the patch notes; prices and editions per platform are in release and platforms.

Bug or design? Check these first

Most “my quest is broken” moments are conditions the game never spells out. Run through this list before you roll back a save:

• Weekday locks. Most Town battles start only on Sloth, sermons happen on Wrath (only the very first one, in Holy Moly!, works any day), resurrection needs Envy (unless a Prayer for Storms blessing is active, which lets the device run on any day), the PR Machine takes supplies on Gluttony, Town orders are accepted on Pride (the order board also takes them from your first visit until the end of the next Pride), and Linda’s concert and Green Scrolls happen on Lust. The weekly calendar lays it all out.
• Carry or hand over. Some quest steps only check that an item is in your inventory, while others take it from you. Read the step before you craft a replacement.
• Battles. You need a sword and body armour equipped, the minimum power shown at the post, and usually Sloth. Break Through to the Port, both Sewer Brawls, the Bathhouse Basement and the Sewerena start on any day. Details in battles and army.
• Reputation gates. Each personal quest step gives +10, and gates are thresholds that are never spent. A character “stuck” at 50 or 60 often waits on another character’s quest or a story step.
• Hidden technologies. Some tech nodes stay invisible until a quest, repair or build reveals them, so a missing node is rarely a bug.

Every common blocker, with its cause and fix, is collected in stuck progression.

How to report a bug

• Steam (PC): since 1.006 there is an in-game bug reporter, in the top-left corner of the main menu or in the pause menu.
• Everywhere else: use tinyBuild’s support form and attach screenshots or a short video.
• Note your platform and game version, and say what you did just before the problem. On PC, the newest crash dump and Player.log from the folders listed above are worth attaching.

Common mistakes

1. Quitting without sleeping. The bed is the only save. A crash or Alt + F4 before bedtime erases everything since you last slept.
2. Marathon sessions. Memory builds up over hours. Restart after a sleep every few hours instead of fighting the stutter.
3. Building the Choir or the Organ early. Wait until The Nun Also Reads and Organic Music ask for them.
4. Trying the Sauna “just once”. Players report the food penalty sticks after the buff ends, and the only cure everyone agrees on is a save from before the visit.
5. Dumping full stacks into almost-full chests on PS4 or Switch. Split first.
6. Upgrading the Jeweler to tier III with Fine Jewelry in stock. Sell it all first.
7. Assuming GOG backs you up. It has no cloud saves for this game; copy the folder yourself.
8. Calling a weekday lock a soft-lock. Check the day before you reload anything.
9. Ignoring the zombie cap after 1.008. The Panic penalty now applies, and your sermons pay for it.