This week I intended on talking about Xbox’s E3 press conference move from Media Monday to Sunday afternoon. To sum up my initial thought: as much as it seems like a move that reeks of white-flag raising; it actually benefits Xbox by opening up breathing space between the Microsoft and Sony conferences. There’s more logic behind that thought, but I was beaten to the punch by gaming pundit, Colin Moriarty over at Kinda Funny and his video lays it all out better than any journalist could. Check it out:
Instead, I’m sharing something that came across my inbox this week. Typically, the random word generator has conjured atrocities like the film Midnight Meat Train along with a number of other things we didn’t enjoy. These dartboard spawned ideas often aren’t unlike actual train wrecks. You see it coming and you should turn away, but you just can’t. So when the words “inaccurate Medieval Cemetery Management Simulator” popped up in my email you better believe I clicked on that sh**. I’m glad I did because I came across an intriguing prospect of a game. Financial simulators aren’t anything new however, Graveyard Keeper by Lazy Bear Games is one that lets you explore your ghoulish business side. Which we all know somewhere deep inside places we don’t talk about, we all have. Right?
This innocent enough tycoon simulator is layered with morbid ethical questions for you to answer. Just look at some of the game’s key selling points:
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Face ethical dilemmas. Do you really want to spend money on that proper hotdog meat for the festival when you have so many resources lying around?
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Gather valuable loot & craft new items. Expand your Graveyard into a thriving business, go ahead and gather valuable resources scattered in the surrounding areas, and explore what this land has to offer.
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Make business alliances. These dead bodies don’t need all that blood, do they? Why not sell it to someone who can put it to good use. Same for body parts. Hey, it’s being efficient with recycling!
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Explore mysterious dungeons. No medieval game would be complete without these. Take a trip into the unknown and find useful new ingredients which may or may not poison a whole bunch of nearby villagers. Capitalism.
Video games have always held a certain level of sociological testing in the form of decisions such as rescue or kill, stealth or gun fight, kiss or reject. Perhaps no game outside of a Telltale Games series has been this upfront with its –Cosmo Magazine like– sociopath questionnaires than Graveyard Keeper.
It’s an interesting proposition born from a silly concept. We’ll learn more about the game when it comes out in Summer 2017 for PC and Xbox One. If you’d like to give it a go, you can sign up for Alpha testing on Graveyard Keeper’s official site now.
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