The Hypno Device in Graveyard Keeper 2

A hypno device is the item Gunter the astrologer sells uncharged and the Formulation Bench turns into a charged one, and the charged form is what the PR Machine spends — alongside newspapers — to raise the number of zombies you may keep for a set number of weeks. Neither of this page’s sources is first-party: one creator video and one player-run dataset page, so every figure below carries its label and its date.

Facts checked October 14, 2026Reading time 7 min readEvidence cited per claim

The hypno device in four points

It is a consumable with two states and one destination: the machine that decides how many zombies you may keep.

Creator video

You buy it uncharged, from Gunter

The raw item is not crafted. A creator video says you buy an uncharged hypno device from Gunter the astrologer and charge it yourself — the step he calls out as the one that took him a while to work out. Reported, unconfirmed as of October 14, 2026.

Community wiki page

One device plus one Faith charges it

The player-run dataset gives the exchange as “1 Hypno-device plus 1 Faith per pair” at the Formulation Bench, and does not say what the pair counts. Community wiki data, unconfirmed as of October 14, 2026.

Community wiki page

It buys weeks of zombie limit, not workers

Charged devices go into the PR Machine with newspapers to extend the zombie limit for one, two or three weeks depending on the tier. The limit falls back when the weeks run out, so the same purchase comes round again. Community wiki data, unconfirmed as of October 14, 2026.

Creator video

The permanent +10 does not replace the machine

The creator also raises his zombie limit permanently by 10 with the Good Fellow perk, and says plainly that this does not remove the need for Gunter’s machine. Reported, unconfirmed as of October 14, 2026.

The item

What a hypno device is

Two sources describe it and neither is a storefront or the developer: the dataset gives the exchange in numbers, the creator gives the loop in order.

Fact	Value	Note
Uncharged form	Bought from Gunter	Sold raw; the buyer charges it
Charged form	1 Hypno-device + 1 Faith	Made at the Formulation Bench
Spent at	The PR Machine	In front of Gunter’s house per the creator; the dataset files the line under the Resurrection Lab
Effect	A temporary zombie-limit increase	Bought again when the weeks run out
Other uses	None in the material	Nothing else takes a charged device

Community wiki page

The device is the machine’s currency

The dataset describes the PR Machine line as converting newspapers and charged hypno-devices into temporary zombie-limit increases, which makes the device an input rather than a tool you keep. It is consumed by the purchase the same way the newspapers are.

Creator video + community wiki page

Charging is a separate step, at a separate station

Buying the uncharged item from Gunter and charging it at the Formulation Bench are two actions the creator describes as one loop, and the dataset agrees on the station. Nothing in the material says the machine accepts an uncharged device.

Creator video

It exists to lift a cap, not to raise zombies

The zombie limit is the game’s own gate on how many workers you may keep, and the creator frames the whole quest as the way that gate is meant to be managed. The device does nothing for the quality of the zombies themselves.

The buy-then-charge loop is the creator’s account, reported, unconfirmed as of October 14, 2026. The one-device-one-Faith exchange and the PR Machine’s input list are community wiki data, unconfirmed as of October 14, 2026. No price for the uncharged device appears in either source.

Charging it

How a hypno device gets charged

Everything the material states about the charge is on this list, and it is short: one station, one recipe, no price.

Where: The Formulation Bench — the station the dataset names as where charged hypno-devices come from.
Inputs: One Hypno-device plus one Faith. The dataset writes this as “1 Hypno-device plus 1 Faith per pair” and never explains what a pair counts.
Uncharged source: Gunter the astrologer, per the creator who walked the loop. No second source confirms it.
Published price: None. Neither source prices the uncharged device, the Faith, or the charge as a service.

Community wiki page

Faith is the whole cost the material records

The dataset spends Faith on the charge and names nothing else. Faith is also the resource sermons produce and resurrections consume, so on this page the charge is simply one more sink that competes with them.

Creator video + community wiki page

The bench is named, not located

Both sources name the Formulation Bench and neither says which building it sits in or what it costs to build, so how early in the game the loop opens is not stated.

Creator video

There is no reported alternative to charging

Nothing in the material sells a charged device, and nothing says Gunter stocks one. The uncharged purchase plus the bench is the only route either source describes.

The Formulation Bench line and the one-device-one-Faith exchange are community wiki data, unconfirmed as of October 14, 2026. Gunter as the uncharged seller is the creator’s account: reported, unconfirmed as of October 14, 2026. Nothing in the material prices any part of the loop.

The zombie cap

What a charged device buys: weeks of zombie limit

The PR Machine line turns the device and newspapers into a bigger zombie limit with an expiry date attached, and the menu of options widens as the machine is upgraded.

PR Machine	Recipe	Limit effect
PR Machine I	2 Charged hypno-devices	+10 zombie limit for 1 week
PR Machine II	10 Newspapers + 3 Charged hypno-devices	+20 zombie limit for 2 weeks
PR Machine III	20 silver or gold Newspapers + 5 Charged hypno-devices	+30 zombie limit for 3 weeks
PR Machine IV	100 silver or gold Newspapers	Higher tier of the same chain; no figure given
PR Machine V	100 gold Newspapers	Top tier of the same chain; no figure given

PR Machine I upgrade: 10 Oiled Plank + 8 Iron Detail
PR Machine II upgrade: 6 Wooden beam + 8 Advanced Detail
PR Machine III upgrade: 6 Wooden Joint + 8 Steel Detail
PR Machine IV upgrade: 10 Carved Wood + 8 Engineering Details
PR Machine V upgrade: Not stated by either source

Creator video

Level four is the figure the creator actually ran

At PR level four he could hold 50 zombies for four weeks, against one week at level one — and in the same save he was running 44 zombies against a cap of 10, which is what raised the warning he was filming about. Reported, unconfirmed as of October 14, 2026.

Creator video

The increase expires, so it is rented rather than owned

Once the one, two or four weeks are up you go back to the machine and pay the price again. Upgrading the machine is what widens the list of options you get to choose from, and the upgrade costs materials on top of the recipe. Reported, unconfirmed as of October 14, 2026.

Creator video

Going over the cap has a visible symptom

A red excessive-zombies icon appears at the top of the screen while you are over the cap, and the creator says the debuff lowers the effectiveness of your sermon and that he found no way around the mechanic. The current cap and your zombie count are readable at the top right of the resurrection chamber. Reported, unconfirmed as of October 14, 2026.

The five tiers, their recipes and the effects listed for tiers I to III are community wiki data, unconfirmed as of October 14, 2026; so are all four upgrade costs. The 50-zombie, four-week reading at level four is the creator’s own save, reported, unconfirmed as of October 14, 2026, and the dataset gives no limit figure for tiers IV and V against which to check it. Nothing in the material says whether a newly bought option replaces the previous one or stacks with it.

The permanent +10 beside the machine

One limit increase does not expire, and the creator is explicit that it is an addition rather than a substitute.

Creator video

Good Fellow is a permanent ten, under writing inspiration

The creator raises his zombie limit permanently by 10 using the Good Fellow perk, which he places under the writing inspiration section of the perk list. It does not replace the PR Machine: it gives him an extra ten on top.

Creator video + community wiki page

The two systems are described as separate

Even with the perk, the creator still calls the machine necessary to run a large workforce. That is consistent with the dataset, which lists the free workers first and treats the limit increases as a separate purchase.

Both perk claims come from the same creator video: reported, unconfirmed as of October 14, 2026. The perk’s exact name, its cost and the column it sits in are not stated, and no other source in the material mentions it. The free-worker sources — two from the Plague Doctor’s Sweet Dreams quest and three from Gunter at reputation 10 — are community wiki data, unconfirmed as of October 14, 2026, and neither figure is a limit increase.

Hypno Prayer is a Writing Desk recipe, not this device

The word “hypno” appears twice in the material, and the two appearances are unrelated as far as the sources go.

Fan page, September 2026

Hypno Prayer sits at mastery 16 on the Book writing ladder

The Writing Desk page records a Hypno Prayer recipe at mastery 16, gated by Reanimation II, on a ladder that runs from paper at level 1 up to 16. Fan-page data, unconfirmed as of September 27, 2026.

Creator video + community wiki page

Nothing connects the recipe to the device

No source says a hypno device is an ingredient of the Hypno Prayer, or that the recipe produces one. They share a name; this page does not join them, and the Writing Desk keeps its own label.

The recipe row is fan-page data on the same label as the rest of /writing-desk/: reported, unconfirmed as of September 27, 2026. It is reproduced here only to keep the two meanings of “hypno” apart, which is why this page links back to the Writing Desk rather than folding the ladder into it.

What is still unknown

The creator video and the dataset page cover the loop from both ends and still leave these open.

What an uncharged hypno device costs from Gunter. No source in the material prices it, and none says whether he restocks.
What the dataset means by “per pair” in the Formulation Bench line: whether one Faith charges one device or a batch of them.
Where the PR Machine actually stands. The creator says in front of Gunter’s house and the dataset files the line under the Resurrection Lab, and neither says whether those are the same machine.
Whether the limit increases stack. Each tier is written as a single figure and nothing says whether a new purchase replaces the previous week’s or adds to it.
Whether the Good Fellow perk’s +10 stacks with the machine’s temporary increase, and whether the cap the machine grants counts the perk’s ten.
What a silver or gold newspaper is. Tiers III to V ask for graded newspapers and neither source explains the grading, or where newspaper quality comes from.
Whether a charged hypno device has any other use. Nothing in the material gives it a second recipe, a second station or a merchant who buys it.
Whether the sermon penalty scales with how far over the cap you are, or whether it is the same flat penalty at 11 zombies over as at 34 over.
Whether any of it survived the launch patches. Every figure on this page is dated October 14, 2026 and comes from a player-run dataset page or a creator video.

Where these facts come from

Every entry below is labelled by what it is: a developer or publisher source, a platform store listing, a press report, a video, or a fan-maintained page. Fan pages are used for terminology, and where one is the only record of a number, that number is written as community wiki data, unconfirmed, with the date it was last checked.

Video Recreational Suffering — How Gunter’s PR Machine Works in Graveyard Keeper 2 (Excessive Zombies Guide) — A 2:10 creator video captured 2026-10-14 and the source of the loop on /hypno-device/: the quest arriving with Gunter the astrologer as the game’s gate on how many zombies you may keep, the red excessive-zombies icon that appears when you are over the cap, the cap-and-count readout at the top right of the resurrection chamber, the debuff that lowers the effectiveness of your sermon with no workaround the creator could find, loading the PR machine in front of Gunter’s house, PR level four holding 50 zombies for four weeks against one week at level one, paying the price again when the weeks run out, buying the device uncharged from Gunter and charging it at the Formulation Bench, and the Good Fellow perk under writing inspiration adding a permanent 10 that does not replace the machine. It is one player’s save, filmed at 44 zombies against a cap of 10.
Fan page graveyard-keeper.wiki — Graveyard Keeper 2 Bioreactor: Zombie Power Guide — Player-run dataset page captured 2026-10-12 and the source of the Bioreactor’s numbers on /bioreactor/: one mastery-1 recipe (5 Wheat to 1 Zombie Power, 10 ticks), auto-crafting, the build cost (10 Glass + 8 Bronze Gear + 6 Advanced Detail), the technology (Bioreactor, 130 red + 20 blue, Building), the conveyor-variant station list with its costs, the four Zombie Power consumers, the PR Machine zombie-limit ladder, the free-worker sources and the logistics unlocks. Every value is reproduced on /bioreactor/ with "community wiki data, unconfirmed as of October 12, 2026", and the PR Machine ladder and the Formulation Bench line are reproduced again on /hypno-device/ under the same label at October 14, 2026.
Fan page graveyardkeeper2.cc — Graveyard Keeper 2 writing desk: cost & 24 recipes — A player-run station database captured 2026-09-27. Source of the per-recipe mastery levels and the silver and gold grade thresholds on /writing-desk/, the shape-split between plain and book-made prayers, the Writing Room placement record, the Writing Basic root node, and which stations consume the desk’s output. Its rows are presented as game data by the page itself; this site still labels them reported and unconfirmed. Its Hypno Prayer rung — mastery 16, gated by Reanimation II — is cited again on /hypno-device/, where it is kept apart from the hypno device itself.

Questions

Hypno device questions

What is a hypno device in Graveyard Keeper 2?

It is a consumable that exists in two states. Gunter the astrologer sells it uncharged, according to a creator video, and the Formulation Bench turns it into a charged hypno device. The charged form is spent at the PR Machine line together with newspapers, where it buys a temporary increase to the number of zombies you may keep. Reported, unconfirmed as of October 14, 2026.

How do you charge a hypno device?

At the Formulation Bench. The player-run dataset states the exchange as “1 Hypno-device plus 1 Faith per pair”, and does not explain what the pair counts, so whether one Faith charges one device or several is not stated. Community wiki data, unconfirmed as of October 14, 2026.

What does a charged hypno device do?

It is an input to the PR Machine, which converts it and newspapers into a zombie-limit increase that lasts a fixed number of weeks: 2 charged devices for +10 for one week at tier I, 10 newspapers plus 3 for +20 over two weeks at tier II, and 20 graded newspapers plus 5 for +30 over three weeks at tier III. Community wiki data, unconfirmed as of October 14, 2026.

How much zombie limit can the PR Machine give you?

The dataset publishes +10 for one week, +20 for two weeks and +30 for three weeks at tiers I to III, and no limit figure for tiers IV and V, whose recipes are 100 graded newspapers and 100 gold newspapers. A creator video reports 50 zombies for four weeks at PR level four, which is his own save rather than a table. Unconfirmed as of October 14, 2026.

Does anything raise the zombie limit permanently?

The creator video says yes: the Good Fellow perk, filed under writing inspiration, adds a permanent 10 to the zombie limit, and he is explicit that it does not replace the PR Machine. No second source in the material mentions the perk, so both claims are reported, unconfirmed as of October 14, 2026.

What happens if you keep more zombies than the cap allows?

A red excessive-zombies icon appears at the top of the screen, and the creator says the resulting debuff lowers the effectiveness of your sermon, with no workaround he could find beyond raising the cap. He was running 44 zombies against a cap of 10 when he filmed it, and says the current cap and count can be read at the top right of the resurrection chamber. Reported, unconfirmed as of October 14, 2026.