Graveyard Keeper 2 Walkthrough: The Main Story Act by Act

Every character quest sits on the critical path, because the finale is gated by reputation. Your journal fills up fast and in no particular order, so this page lays the 41 main story quests out as a practical route. We group them into seven acts (our labels, not the game’s), list each quest in the order you will usually close it, and end every act with what it opens up. Branches run in parallel, so treat the order as a route, not a rail. From Act 6 onward the story turns, and anything that would spoil it is folded inside a spoiler block.

The main story at a glance

Before Act 1: the prologue

The opening (prison escape, Crown Hill, a Town defence and your first burial) has no journal quests. Two things trip people up. During the Town defence the workshop door will not let you out until the Rusty Armor and Rusty Sword from the output chest are equipped, not just carried. And the first burial is the full routine: mark the grave, dig, drop the body in, fill it and set a Wooden Sign on top, so do not walk away after the shovel work. Finishing it opens the journal, and the Burial Certificate it pays is the first thing that journal asks you to show.

Act 1: Settling in

Two quests open the moment the first burial is done: Herbert’s paperwork and the Fairy’s riddle. Herbert’s line drives the act; the Fairy’s line runs alongside it through the Village and the dungeon under your house.

1. Certificate, Please · Herbert at the Crossroads. Carry one Burial Certificate I. He only checks that you have it, so sell it to Januarius afterwards. Opens the Village, Expand graveyard I, +10 Town quality and +10 Herbert.
2. Dust in the Kitchen · the Fairy. Nothing to hand in: it ticks itself off during Sweet Dreams. The real path runs through the Village: What the Fairy?, then Good Fellow, which needs 10 Village reputation. Planted and Delivered and Two Peas in a Pod give +5 each, exactly enough.
3. Grave Expectations · Herbert. Reach Graveyard quality 10. It is a quality score, not a body count, so decorations and well-rated graves do the work (graveyard quality guide). +10 Herbert.
4. Fighting Spirit Required · Herbert. Hand over 3 Faith. Faith only comes from sermons, so this waits on the first sermon you preach yourself in Agatha’s Holy Moly!, which follows Jack in a Boat. Opens Swords and Bell and Hooligans for Hire.
5. Dungeons and… that’s it, probably. · Larry sends you under your own house once Good Fellow is done. Clear the blockage (3 Bronze Detail, 3 Wooden Plank), open the bars into the Abandoned Tower and let the Plague Doctor in. Rewards Alchemy, Basic, +10 Albert and +5 Village.
6. Sweet Dreams · Albert. Brew one Dream Dust (one green rune plus one blue rune) and show it to him; he does not keep it. Follow him down the Alchemy Lab hatch for your first two zombie workers, Alchemist’s Clothes and +10 Albert.
7. Swords and Bell · Herbert at the Barracks. Two separate reports, in either order: reach 12 Barracks quality, and bring a Magic bell: 1 Blood + 1 Bronze Ingot at the Wooden Anvil or a better anvil, Smithing mastery 3. The recipe arrives with Jack’s letter in Jack in a Boat. The first mercenary hire costs 5 silver and brings 8 power; barricades cover the rest.
8. First… Sludge? · Herbert. With a sword and armour equipped, win Break Through to the Port (12 power, 1 squad, any day). Rewards +10 Herbert, First Blood and reveals Battle Potions I.

What Act 1 unlocks: the Village and its traders, the first graveyard expansion, the dungeon, the Abandoned Tower and Alchemy Lab, two zombie workers, and the first freed district of the Town with the road to the Port (the Town restoration guide covers what to rebuild next). First… Sludge? also opens a wave of Town quests, including Hope It Doesn’t go South, Safe zone. and Sad Captain, No Action, the branches that lead to the rest of Herbert’s election reputation.

Act 2: The Port and the Fairy

9. Docked and Found · Jack in the Port Area. The reunion opens the bridge and the Town Warehouse, +10 Jack and +10 Town quality. It also opens Workshop Hours, Crystal Clear and Act 3.
10. Friendship Written in the Stars · Gunter in the Astrologer’s Tower. He wants his Deck of Cards, which Linda only returns after you restore the old shop by her club in Safe Harbor. The cards give exactly the 10 Gunter reputation needed to take his three zombie workers, plus The Man Behind the Curtain and his next shop tier.
11. Chasing Fairy Lights · the Fairy. At the home Kitchen Table, summon her with 1 Dream Dust, 1 Comet’s Tail (Gunter sells them) and 1 Tooth. The recipe appears once Albert has checked your Dream Dust and needs Farming mastery 3. She hands over the Fairy’s Swamp Map and A Little Magic.

What Act 2 unlocks: the Port and the Warehouse (Town orders start with Workshop Hours), Gunter’s shop, three more zombie workers, the Swamp Map, and Gunter’s Congregation Trouble, which leads to the PR Machine and the zombie limit.

Act 3: Forest, Swamp and the Goddess

12. Into the Forest (Eventually) · following Jack’s iron lead, the Village guards at the Forest Post west of the Village turn you away without a pass.
13. Into the Forest · ask Januarius at the Village Tavern about the Head of the Village. Repair the Royal Postbox beside the tavern, hand the Head of the Village the Temporary Head of the Village Certificate, then ask for the Forest Pass. If the pass seems to vanish, look behind the tavern counter. Pays a silver Story and 2 Town Gratitude.
14. Collect Head of the Village certificate. · the journal entry for pulling that certificate out of the repaired postbox. It behaves like a step of Into the Forest, which is why the main story is sometimes counted as 40 quests.
15. Forest Pass · show the pass at the Forest Post and explore the Forest down to the camp of the old bandits Hans and Sven. Unlocks Friends in Low Places and the side quest Can’t See The Forest for the Iron.
16. Go Wild in the Wild Lands · the bandits want a Royal Pardon. Ask at the Village postbox, pay the 5 silver fine and refill it with 3 Ink. Hand over the pardon and the Fairy’s Swamp Map together and the bridge to the Swamp opens. The bandits’ Dynamite deal is for the mine, not the bridge.
17. Heart of the Swamp · cross the bridge, follow the Fairy into the Swamp and meet the Goddess of Nature at her statue. From now on a pile of 4 Blue Crystal waits at the statue every Envy, but a new pile only appears once you have collected the old one.
18. Any Portal in a Storm · ask Larry, then Gunter, about the broken portal. Gunter points you to a former Bishop living under the old bathhouse, out of reach until Act 5. Pays a silver Story.

What Act 3 unlocks: the Forest, the Swamp, the weekly Blue Crystals, the portal storyline, and the election (Heart of the Swamp opens Election Fever).

Act 4: The Village election

Jully will only perform the Goddess’s ritual after the Village votes. Six quests on paper, but the real work is reputation: three friends must reach set levels before they agree to help, and their quests are how you get there.

19. Election Fever · Januarius explains the candidates and hands out three campaign jobs.
20. Security Checkpoint: Democracy · Herbert at the Barracks: 55 reputation to raise it, 60 to seal it.
21. Vote Early, Vote Naughty · Linda at the Dockside Club as the voting site: 55, then 60.
22. Destiny Polls · Gunter runs the PR campaign: 45, then 50.
23. Campaign of Thrones · the vote at the Village Tavern between the twins Heffry and Jeffry. You do not pick the winner. Talk to Jack and Agatha before you leave, or the door tells you it would be rude. Unlocks The People Have Spoken and new Januarius stock.
24. Goddess in the Swamp · bring Jully 100 Faith, the largest single Faith payment of the story. Pays a gold Story.

Where the election reputation comes from (+10 per quest unless noted):

The hidden prerequisites behind that table: Safe zone. only completes once Eastern Districts Purge, Central Districts Purge: Part II and Sewer Brawl II are all won. Plague Me Maybe needs 50 Albert reputation, which runs through Personal Zombie Zone and its zombie with at least 8 red skulls. Stars, Lies, & Contracts needs Jack at 60.

What Act 4 unlocks: the ritual, plus five new quests from the vote: Goddess in the Swamp, Front-of-the-Envelope Calculation, Notorious Nun, A Cure for Wellness and Press for Cash. Januarius also moves up a trade tier.

Act 5: The Royal Foundry and the first fragments

25. Front-of-the-Envelope Calculation · Jack at Jack’s Workshop, at 60 Jack reputation. He explains the steel problem and how to open the flooded water tunnel. His 60 comes from Jack in a Boat (+20), Docked and Found, Workshop Hours, Jack’s Back in Business and Give materials.
26. Water Locked · Herbert. Win Closing the Western Floodgate (56 power, 3 squads, Sloth). A Cure for Wellness can open this quest too.
27. Steamy Royal · Herbert. Tell him about the water tunnel, then win Closing the Eastern Floodgate: Part I (80 power, 3 squads, Sloth) and its Part II continuation from the Port-side bridge post. Finish with Break Through to the Bathhouse Basement (88 power since patch 1.007, 3 squads, any day) from the sewer battle camp. You reach the Royal Foundry and meet the Bishop.
28. Magic Mirror · needs Any Portal in a Storm as well. The Bishop’s mirror locates the portal pieces; give him 3 Zombie Power (5 Wheat each in the Bioreactor, so 15 Wheat) for Portal fragment Sloth.
29. The Hungry Cosmos · Gunter hands over Portal fragment Gluttony. +10 Gunter.
30. High Price · the Trademaster at the Main Pier sells Portal fragment Lust for 1 gold, on the Lust day only. Install it at the Astrologer’s Tower for +10 Gunter.

Fragments do nothing in your pockets: each one must be inserted at the portal frame in the Astrologer’s Tower, and every insertion pays a bronze Story. Installing Lust is the trigger for Green Fragment, More Portal Parts and Gunter’s Why don’t you like me?. The full hunt is in our portal fragments guide.

What Act 5 unlocks: the Royal Foundry and steel (the steel guide has the full chain; Steel Ingot at 1 silver each from the Bishop once Man of Steel is under way), a Foundry monk’s The Lord’s Vintage, and three of the seven fragments.

Act 6: The last fragments

From here the story turns, so the list stays vague and the details sit in the spoiler block below it.

31. Finding Old God · Davy the Dagger at the Dockside Club puts his looters on a trail that ends in the Sewers. Pays 2 Cheese and opens Albert’s Coughing it Up!.
32. Friend or Foe · opens once Finding Old God and High Price (Lust installed) are both done. Rest at home until something arrives, then take it back down to the Sewers. The quest ends with a major story choice.
33. Eye, Red Eye · the consequences of that choice: one of two preparation routes, both leading to the same finale.
34. Green Fragment · with Lust installed, search the debris in the drained Sluice Area for Portal fragment Envy and install it. The area must already be cleared of zombies, which is the job of Operation POTATO: Part I and its Part II.
35. More Portal Parts · Jack discusses his piece at 60 reputation and hands over Portal fragment Pride at 80. The two +10s that get him there are Man of Steel (bring him 3 Steel Ingots) and Factory Tour (Factory rating 20). Steel Smithing is gated at Jack 70 along the way.
36. Even More Portal Parts · with five fragments installed, Portal fragment Wrath turns up in debris at your own Inquisition Base. Installing it opens Palace Politics.

Act 7: The Palace and the ending

37. Palace Politics · pay Davy 50 silver at the Dockside Club for Palace intelligence, then go home and step back outside for his briefing. There is no timer to wait out.
38. Gluttony and Pride · ask Jack and Gunter for help near the Main Pier.
39. Lust and Envy · ask Linda and Albert at the Dockside Club.
40. Wrath and Sloth · ask Agatha and Herbert at the Crossroads.
41. The Last Battle · opens once Palace Politics and all three pair quests are done (one Act 6 route also asks for one more night’s rest). Win the Final Battle: 144 defense power, up to 4 squads, Sloth only. It pays 10 Zombie goo and 16 Town Gratitude, plus 200 red technology points for each zombie that fought.

The three pair quests need 90 reputation with both friends in the pair, or 100 depending on your Act 6 route; every step of the three pairs is in the romance and pairs guide. Since your main and character quests give exactly 90 per friend, a friend stuck at 80 means a character quest you have not finished. The squad count is a cap, not a requirement: hired mercenaries take one of the four places, and zombie squads, barricades and towers make up the rest of the 144.

Reputation: the gate behind every act

Story steps locked to a weekday

The six-day week runs Gluttony, Sloth, Lust, Envy, Pride, Wrath, and the story leans on it. Missing the right day costs you a full week, so plan around this table and our weekly calendar.

Common mistakes

• Treating the side battles as optional. Both Sewer Brawls and every battle south of the river feed Safe zone., and Herbert cannot reach 60 without it. The most missed one is Market Square Purge: its post is outside the walls, at the gate north of the Crossroads.
• Spending every drop of Faith. The 100-Faith ritual at the end of Act 4 is the largest Faith bill of the story, so keep a reserve instead of scrambling for it later.
• Building the Choir or the Organ before a quest asks for them. The checks happen during the sermon itself, with a zombie in the Choir or at the Organ, and early builds have caused bugged checks. Since 1.007 the music technologies should stay hidden until their quest starts, but saves where the Organ went up early can still be stuck.
• Spending steel before Jack gets his 3 Steel Ingots. Man of Steel is one of the two steps between Jack 60 and Jack 80.
• Carrying fragments around. A fragment in your bag counts for nothing until you insert it at the Astrologer’s Tower, and the next fragment quest waits on that insertion.
• Leaving the resurrection room for later. Linda’s 60 depends on Albert’s 50, which needs his zombie with at least 8 red skulls. Open the rusty door near the Morgue early (1 Bronze Detail + 1 Melted Fat) and repair its power switch; the device normally runs only on Envy, unless a Prayer for Storms blessing is active. The zombies guide covers the collar and the skulls.
• Walking out of the tavern after the vote. Talk to Jack and Agatha first, then let Linda stop you at the exit.

If a step refuses to trigger despite all of this, our stuck progression guide lists every known blocker with its fix, and known issues covers the bugs still open on 1.008.