Graveyard Keeper 2 System Requirements, Settings and Steam Deck

The Keeper digs graves by hand, but the game he lives in wants a fairly modern PC. Stutter that creeps in after hours of play is memory build-up, not your hardware: sleep, save and restart. The official specs were raised shortly before launch, so older, much lower numbers still float around. Below: the current requirements, what the options in the settings menu really do, a Steam Deck profile that survives a full evening, and the fixes for the long-session stutter the publisher itself acknowledges.

Graveyard Keeper 2 PC requirements at a glance

These are the publisher’s current requirements for the Windows version, whichever PC store you buy from. Both tiers need a 64-bit processor and a 64-bit operating system.

The fine print that matters:

• Your Windows build matters, not just “Windows 10”. The game runs on the Unity 6 engine, which supports Windows 10 21H1 (build 19043) or newer. A machine that has dodged Windows Update for years is outside what the engine supports.
• DirectX is the least of your worries. The listing says DirectX 12, yet the game has been observed rendering through Direct3D 11. Any card that meets the graphics line handles both, so judge your PC on the GPU row, not the DirectX row.
• The download is small. The GOG installer for version 1.007 weighs about 1.19 GB. Keep the full 4 GB free anyway for patches, saves and logs.
• Only Intel and NVIDIA parts are named. “Or similar” covers AMD hardware, but the listing gives no AMD model to compare against.
• Windows only. There is no macOS build and no native Linux build. Linux players run the Windows version through Proton, which is exactly how the Steam Deck does it.

Can your PC run it?

The jump in requirements makes more sense once you know what changed under the hood. The sequel keeps the stylised look of the first game, but the world is now fully 3D behind a fixed camera, with dynamic shadows, a sun that crosses the sky through the day, foliage that bends in the wind, volumetric fog and weather. That look is charming and it is not free. For everything else that changed since the first game, see what’s new in Graveyard Keeper 2.

How to read your own machine against the table:

• At or above the recommended tier: this is the hardware the publisher recommends. Start from the highest quality preset and match the frame limit to your monitor.
• Between the old and the new minimum: this is a grey zone. The current listing no longer promises anything for that hardware, and the free demo has been pulled from the Steam, PlayStation and Nintendo stores, so you cannot test before buying. If you try anyway, launch it the day you buy it: refunds are handled by the store you bought from, under its own policy, so the sooner you know, the better.
• Integrated graphics and older laptops: the old listing named Iris Pro 580 at 720p; the current one names no integrated GPU at all. Unless your chip is genuinely in GTX 1650 territory, treat it as outside what the listing covers.
• No suitable PC at all: the Xbox version can be streamed through Xbox Cloud Gaming with Game Pass Essential, Premium or Ultimate, but you still have to buy the game, because it is not in the Game Pass library. The PS5 version supports cloud streaming to PS5 and PS Portal with PS Plus Premium. GeForce NOW support is unconfirmed. Platform details live in the release and platforms guide.

Every setting explained

The options menu is short. Here is what it offers, what it lacks, and where we would set each switch.

Where your frames actually go

The frame-rate swing that testing has measured is between indoors and outdoors. In pre-release tests on a Steam Deck the game struggled to reach 60 FPS even inside buildings and often fell to the mid-30s out in the open world. There are no desktop measurements to quote, so play it safe and treat the open world, with its fog, foliage and weather, as your worst case. Set your frame limit for the walk across the Graveyard or the streets of the Town, not for the quiet of the Keeper’s house.

Starting points by hardware

These are our suggested starting points, not benchmarks. Begin here, walk around outside for a few in-game hours, then adjust one setting at a time.

Steam Deck: best settings and battery life

Graveyard Keeper 2 is Steam Deck Verified. Valve ran its tests on launch day, 22 September 2026, and the game passed all four checks; it is also verified for the Steam Machine. Valve’s recommended compatibility layer is Proton stable, so you do not need to force any Proton version.

Verified is a compatibility badge, not a performance promise. Pre-release testing on a Steam Deck found that, uncapped, the game struggled to reach 60 FPS even indoors, often dropped to the mid-30s outdoors and spiked to 20 W of power draw. The fix is to stop chasing 60 and lock a frame rate the Deck can still hold outdoors.

A few more Deck notes:

• Saves follow you. The Steam version uses Steam Cloud (1 GB quota), so a night slept on your desktop carries over to the Deck and back, as long as cloud sync is on for both.
• The tests predate the patches. These measurements come from a build tested before launch. Patches 1.005 to 1.008 fixed several frame-rate and crash problems (listed below), so treat the numbers as a pre-launch snapshot rather than a verdict on the current build.
• Controls are ready. The game has full controller support on Steam, so the Deck’s default layout works. In-game button remapping does not exist; use Steam Input for that.

Performance tips that actually help

Roughly in the order we would try them, from the broad fixes to the niche ones.

1. Sleep, quit, relaunch. Playing for hours without a restart lets memory build up, on every platform. Sleep in your bed at home to save, then relaunch every few hours; the known issues guide explains the long-session tax.
2. Cap the frame rate. A steady 60 (or 30 on a handheld) feels better than an unlimited counter bouncing around, and it keeps your GPU cooler and quieter.
3. Stay on the latest patch. Steam gets patches first, so GOG and consoles can miss the bed-crash and loading fixes for a while. The patch notes guide has every change and the version of each platform, but these are the performance-related ones:
   • 1.005 fixed frame-rate drops at the top of the Abandoned Tower, where the Alchemy Lab sits, and errors before your first sleep.
   • 1.006 fixed crashes at ultrawide and non-standard resolutions.
   • 1.007 fixed the frame rate collapsing to about 2 FPS while the game saved, and repeated exception pop-ups.
   • 1.008 fixed a crash when going to bed that could throw the Keeper out of bounds, an infinite loading screen caused by a conveyor error, and persistent error pop-ups.
4. Update Windows and your GPU drivers. The engine needs Windows 10 21H1 or newer, and a driver update is the cheapest fix there is.
5. Intel Core 13th or 14th gen K, KF or KS? Players on these chips, especially high-end i7 and i9 models, have reported crashes and general instability, and the pattern matches Intel’s own known problem with this CPU family. The publisher’s fix starts with your motherboard BIOS: update it to get Intel’s latest microcode, then update the game, your GPU drivers and Windows, and follow Intel’s guidance if it persists.
6. Turn off overlays temporarily. The publisher’s own troubleshooting list includes disabling overlays such as the NVIDIA App or Discord while you test, to rule them out.
7. Verify the game files. On Steam: right-click the game, Properties, Installed Files, verify integrity. It finds and repairs damaged game files without touching your saves, which live elsewhere.
8. Lower quality before resolution. Drop the preset first, then the resolution. There is no upscaler to soften a lower resolution, so it is the last resort.
9. Test without mods. The modding scene is already large and runs on community frameworks. Before you blame your hardware for a crash, disable your mods and see if it persists.
10. Use a per-game GPU profile. If you prefer to cap frames or force settings from your graphics driver’s control panel, the executable to target is GraveyardKeeper2.exe.

Big factories and long loading screens

If a save hung forever on the loading screen, the cause named in the patch notes is a conveyor error, fixed in 1.008 (check the patch notes for your platform). Conveyor belts only run in the Factory, once you research Conveyors, so if you have not laid a single belt yet, look at the known issues guide for other causes. Update first, then see the factory automation guide to build lines that do not tangle.

Consoles: what to expect

Everything above about graphics options is PC advice. On console, what you control is the platform you play on, its patch level and how you restart. Install sizes and patch levels as of 5 October 2026:

• 1.007 is on its way to PS4, Switch and Switch 2: it was promised for the week of 5 October 2026.
• Screen tearing on consoles is a known, open issue with no workaround yet.
• Install on internal storage. On PlayStation and Xbox, keep the game on the console’s main internal drive; on Switch, move it from the SD card to system storage.
• Restart properly. The memory build-up applies to consoles too, so sleep and relaunch every few hours. If problems persist, the publisher’s console steps are: on Xbox, hold the Xbox button on the console for at least 10 seconds, then start it again; on PlayStation, clear the system software cache.
• PS4, Switch and Switch 2 owners: do not craft the Garden Well Upgrade a second time until 1.007 reaches your platform, because it can crash the game.

The other platform-specific bugs and their workarounds are collected in the known issues guide.

Saves, settings and logs on PC

Knowing where the game keeps its files saves you a lot of grief when something goes wrong. The exact folders for saves, demo saves, crash dumps and settings are listed in the known issues guide.

• Settings and saves live apart.** Backing up the save folder does not back up your settings, which sit in the registry. Expect to redo your options after a move to a new PC.
• Back up before risky steps. Close the game, copy the whole save folder, and keep each .dat file with its matching .info file.
• GOG has no cloud saves. GOG Galaxy does not sync this game, so manual backups are your only safety net there.
• Report from inside the game. Since 1.006, Steam players can send a bug report from the top-left of the main menu or from the pause menu (Esc). Attach your Player.log and crash dump if you write to the publisher’s support instead; console players use that support form too.

Common mistakes

• Buying on the old specs. A GT 640 and 4 GB of RAM were still the listed minimum on 30 August 2026. They are not anymore.
• Reading “Verified” as “smooth”. The Deck badge is about compatibility. Performance is your job: 30 FPS lock, Low preset.
• Running the Deck uncapped. You trade a bouncing frame rate for power spikes up to 20 W and a shorter evening.
• Marathon sessions. Several hours without a restart is exactly what the publisher’s stutter advisory warns about. Sleep, quit, relaunch.
• Quitting in the middle of the day. There is no manual save. Closing the game before bedtime throws away everything since you last slept, which is a bad trade for a “quick restart”.
• Hunting for missing options. There is no HDR, no upscaler, no native ultrawide, no controller remapping and no colourblind mode. The menu is not hiding them.
• Assuming every store has the same patch. Steam is ahead; GOG and consoles can lag by days. If a fix in the notes did not reach you, check your version first.
• Skipping the BIOS on a Raptor Lake crash. On 13th and 14th gen Intel K, KF and KS chips, the publisher’s first step is a BIOS update; do it before anything else.

If your problem is a stuck quest rather than a stuck frame rate, head to how to fix progression blockers. New Keepers should start with the beginner guide.