Graveyard Keeper is a Stardew Valley-inspired “medieval cemetery management sim”. You have to build and manage your own graveyard, and expand into other ventures, while finding shortcuts to cut costs. It’s also a love story!
The game has an extensive technology and crafting system, which is a bit of a headache at the start of the game (I remember Stardew Valley being much more accessible). But there are plenty of guides online, so persevere and gradually you can actually make nails and bits of metal and so on. There are great amounts of different items, but the game is pretty generous with chest space from the start so you won’t run out of slots. Also if your inventory is full and you’re given something, it just stays on the ground until you have space to pick it up.
The corpse-burying feature is rather grisly, as you carry out an “autopsy” first – harvesting the bodies for flesh which you later sell at the Inn for money. The game also has “mysterious dungeons” where you can find new alchemy ingredients. Plus there’s farming and fishing.
Just two gripes: the game only allows saving when you sleep, and you can only sleep in your home, and only if you are at least slightly depleted in energy. Infrequent saves are an issue with mobile games, with so many people playing them in short bursts while commuting or between meetings etc. The second gripe is the interminably long walk to the village and back. I’d be happy to IAP another $5 for a teleporter there and back.