Barrow Hill: Curse of the Ancient Circle

in library

3.8/5

( 24 Reviews )

3.8

24 Reviews

English & 4 more

Posted on: January 3, 2021

fungunoid

Verified owner

Games: 246 Reviews: 2

Nice atmosphere, not scary

Here are a few of my takeaways. Notes, not really a review. Hopefully they help you in deciding whether to play. In terms of atmosphere, the game definitely had that. The environments looked good and the sounds were well done. Jonathan Boakes is credited for helping with the sounds too, and you can tell. As regards the "historical content" other reviewers mention, there were very little actual readings on real Celtic mythology or local history, so don't get your hopes up for being totally engaged like I did. Most of what is there in terms of Celtic myth is really neopagan drivel. On the game mechanics, it's par for the course regarding Myst-like games. However, the developer liked to put some very important items in the far lower corners of some screens, making them easily missed and downright invisible. This isn't fun or challenging. It's only frustrating. After I've solved the mystery and knew what I needed to do, I had to resort to a guide just to find a couple of the items I knew I needed. And sure enough, they were all located on the edges of the screen. Bad design. On the story, it's a little tense in the beginning, but once you find out what's actually going on, that all vanishes. One reviewer said that the game's monster was "lame". I found it laughable, and had a nice long chuckle when I got to see it in action on a security cam you get access to in the game. There is some intentional humor in the game too though, and in general I liked how the plot unfolded and was presented. The matter, however, is something else. In brief, the story revolves around a circle of standing stones, and rocks aren't scary. In sum, pacing is good, sound is good, environment and ambience are good, but if you're looking for a scare, look elsewhere. I'm glad I played it, but it was a let down from what I was expecting.

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Posted on: August 21, 2020

decorus_veritas

Games: 142 Reviews: 64

Creepy puzzler, beautiful art

As far as I can tell, this whole experience was created by Matt Clark with the help of a few friends and family members. Given that this is a one-person project, it's pretty darn cool. The game is deliciously creepy, especially in the opening moments. The art is fantastic, the ambiance and sound really set the mood, and it's a clever mystery, with lots of educational moments spread throughout the game world. This is point and click, which means there is a bit of pixel hunting. For the first half of the game, I didn't mind this at all, especially as new areas keep opening up. It's fun to figure out how to climb into the barn, or to creak around Emma's trailer out in the marsh. The first set of puzzles isn't too hard, and clues are ready to come by. But as the game progresses, the puzzles become much more intricate, and start depending on you taking real world notes on what goes where. It was at this point I wish the game had gone to a more automated approach, with the avatar taking notes for me. I had to look up some stuff that I didn't realize I needed to write down. The result is a bit too much backtracking in the late stages along with a lengthy collect-a-thon as you seek all the requisite ceremonial elements. Still, it's a greally good example of how to create a creepy horror game in a point and click format. It's fun, it's educational, and it was clearly a passion project. I'm a fan, and I look forward to trying The Dark Path!

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Posted on: April 11, 2020

mdqp

Verified owner

Games: 1941 Reviews: 70

A short, atmospheric adventure

Barrow Hill is a first person point & click adventure. The game feels low budget, but they definitely did their best to use what they had to its fullest potential. The atmosphere is suitably spooky, whether you are exploring a seemingly abandoned service station, or the dark paths in the dense foliage of the region. The game has a couple of jump-scares, which help with the mood as well (although the game doesn't remember if you triggered them or not in past sessions, so they can be a little annoying later on). The game is a bit cryptic at first, but it doesn't overdo it, and you start to get a clearer picture as you progress. It also likes to throw a bit too many documents all at once at you, and you will likely have to retread familiar terrain just to re-read them (with a couple of exceptions, you won't pick up any of the notes). Thankfully, the game gives you some of the hints multiple times, and the area is fast to navigate. It's also forgiving (no dead-ends that I could find). Make sure to keep some pen and paper with you to take some notes, regardless. The game is not difficult, and the puzzles are usually quite nice (if a bit unresponsive, see below). Sometimes, however, you must complete tasks even when you know you can't fully take care of them, because they are necessary to trigger a scene and move forward the game (this caused me to waste some time). The game suffers a bit on the technical side of things. I didn't find any bugs, but having actions that yield no new results be repeatable seems counter-intuitive, and the game is slightly unresponsive to fast clicking. The inventory area appears when you hover the mouse in the lower end of the screen, and sometimes it won't register clicks properly there either, which might mean you'll actually step back from an area of interest. There are no subtitles, and the voice-acting is a bit unclear at times. The UI in general is spartan at best. I'd recommend it to fans of the genre. It's fun, despite its flaws.

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Posted on: March 28, 2022

mintee

Verified owner

Games: 797 Reviews: 122

pretty enjoyable point and click

This game sent me back to Myst a few times in its movement and storytelling. I really enjoyed it for the most part. the music was very atmospheric and the voice acting good. I enjoyed the real time insertion of movie clips like old games used to do and myst movement style. The atmosphere of the game is creepy as heck, spent a good portion of it with the gps tracker on watching the camera feeds and dreading seeing something moving towards me . It also was handy for tracking your way thru the paths. (missed creep opportunity by the devs) Game didnt hold your hand much, no map other than the gps. no camera snaps for the notes and other images you may want to refer to. I ended up using my phone alot to snap screenshots and took copious notes, all of which gave me nostalgia for myst. spent so much time on my notes sleuthing, all of which was fun. one big jump scare made me yelp and scare my cat. Some issues ruined game immersion and pacing. It was very easy to get lost on paths, miss hotspots and the game mechanic of holding onto items after use so you kept thinking they had further function so i would randomly try to combine them with hotspots. After hrs of no progress i referred to a walkthru and found i missed a hotspot and even knowing about it (behind the grave stone) i still couldnt get the path to it and had to try a few positionings to finally get it. Game also froze near the end a few times forcing me to use task manager to close. luckily it had a refresh function to restore my current save progress. The ending of the game was a bit ruined for me as i had to use a walkthru because i had turned off inventory names which made the cup puzzle extremely hard to do. by the time i fixed it i was more or less done and cheated the sequence via walk thru. still overall it was very enjoyable. around 8 hrs gameplay, most of it spent going in circles. lol it was a great exploration game. look forward to playing other games by the devs.

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Posted on: June 8, 2022

catroker

Verified owner

Games: 51 Reviews: 1

Started scary but....

I loved this game when I was younger but playing as an adult I got further and once the villain was revealed it lost all the tension and instead had me laughing and not able to take it seriously anymore. The puzzles were annoying more than difficult

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