PS5's free new offering is a Stardew Valley-like that swaps a peaceful farm for the zombie apocalypse

I don’t want to frighten anyone and alert them to the passage of time, but October is right around the corner.

It’s the month that we celebrate all things spooky and macabre, which is why your wholesome go-to cozy comfort games may suddenly no longer make the cut.

You needn’t worry about that, because the perfect solution has just landed on the PlayStation Store in the form of a free demo for Graveyard Keeper 2.

You should think of Graveyard Keeper 2 as Stardew Valley, except your peaceful farm is swapped out for an undead town in the zombie apocalypse.

Graveyard Keeper 2 launches in full tomorrow, on September 22, but you can sample it for free on the PlayStation Store with no PlayStation Plus subscription required.

All save data will carry over from the demo into Graveyard Keeper 2’s full launch

Let’s get the biggest question out of the way. Do you need to have played the original Graveyard Keeper? Absolutely not.

Certainly, as always, it’s nice if you do have prior experience with this world and lore, but as a sandbox cozy sim, it won’t take you long to settle into Graveyard Keeper 2 without context.

Developed by Lazy Bear Games and published by tinyBuild, you’re now the Grand Inquisitor of a spooky town in this highly anticipated sequel.

Players will need to manage their own medieval graveyard, command an undead army, automate production across the town, fortify against the undead you don’t control, rebuild the town, milk your residents for maximum profits, and more.

It’s not exactly a wholesome game. As the Grand Inquisitor, you don’t act out of the goodness of your heart.

The graphics are to die for. Too cheesy? But it’s true that they're simply divine.

You do get to complete some of the usual cozy activities in Graveyard Keeper 2, like farming but you’ll harvest just as many human remains as you do flowers and fruits.

“Help the townsfolk restore their homes and turn their problems into revenue,” begins the synopsis.

“Complete quests throughout the city, as your undead workers take care of the heavy lifting behind the scenes. With zombie-based automation and structured systems, you can transform local efforts into a scalable and profitable operation.”

As for the demo, it’ll introduce you to life as the Grand Inquisitor with crafting, scavenging, graveyard-digging, decorating, and leading your army all available.

What’s great to hear is that all progress will carry over should you end up purchasing the full release of the game.

It’s also worth noting that the demo is also available across Steam, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch 2.

On PlayStation, the demo currently boasts a score of 4.05 with 68% of players awarding a score of five, correct at the time of writing.

When Graveyard Keeper 2 launches in full, it’ll set you back $19.99 although you may be able to nab it for $15.99 with a 20% PlayStation Plus discount until September 22.

We expect this one to prove very popular across the next month.