The Excavation of Hob's Barrow

If you like dark themes, don't mind background music which is never uplifting nor enjoyingly playful and if not-happy-ends are okay to you, you should definitely give this game a try. To me it is a rollercoaster of emotions, as I really like the rural Victorian Britain setting, playing a female archeologist, solving the puzzles, the detailed, high quality pixel graphics and most parts of the story. So there is a lot to like and my dislikes are personal, as beginning and end of the game are not my piece of cake and I don't like getting sucked into a dark story by kind of depressing music right from the beginning. Otherwise from that I don't have much critique, as for what is intended by the developers it pretty much achieves in good quality

... This game really needs an alternate ending. I couldn't stop playing, and this is a very good thing. The quality of it all is on par with the average WadjetEye game. Some story-wise things, though, lowered the experience in the end. First of all, there's no real wow-moment: much of what happens is predictable and digs skin-deep into the usual folklore (and I love this kind of setting). This, until the very end, which is not what I was expecting. [SPOILERS] Unfortunately, the "wrong path" is so easy to guess... that it's a pity that Thomasina falls for it. I mean: we actually see a flashback telling us to be aware of some betrayal, stating straightforwardly what NOT TO DO... still, she does it! It serves for the dark tone and the Lovecraftian "we are all doomed" mood, eventually, but... c'mon! This game really needs an alternate ending.

This is an excellent game with only one important flaw. Let's break that down. PROS: + Flawless gameplay. This is a point-and-click adventure games that learned all the lessons from previous adventure games (e.g., item highlighter). The puzzles make sense, which means they will inevitably be on the easy side if you grew up playing its moon-logic predecessors. They get less obvious near the end, but the game provides all the necessary clues, so logic and a little bit of exploration instinct will get you through. +Extremely immersive. Beautiful graphics, great atmospheric music. The game absorbs you into its universe and blurs the borders between you and Thomasina. You're not a kleptomaniac graphical adventure player, you are an educated barrow digger, and you act as such. +Best voice acting I've heard in almost 30 years playing games, bar none. Yes, it may sound exaggerated. No, I don't need to think it twice: this is it. Kudos to the actors involved for bringing the characters to life. + Great story and good writing. Right amount of dialogue, characters feel alive and have a story to tell but it never feel like a chore. The mystery keeps you hooked. The day-night progression helps with the story's pacing. CONS: - As other have pointed out, at one point you are given crucial information, and then asked you act as against it. It's OK to watch or read a character head in the wrong direction, but in a game, it breaks the immersion: you are no longer Thomasina, you are a player guessing what the game wants you to do to make the story advance. It may make sense story-wise that she doesn't know or doesn't care, the problem is that it forces you to start playing unnaturally. -The game deserved a higher budget. Some transitions are reused over and over, and there are several fade-to-black & fade-from-black transitions that feel like a missing animation or cutscene. Bottom line: buy this game. Give this team the resources to do more and better. They have it in them.

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is the perfect game for spooky season. It's a brilliantly written little story about a woman's determination to uncover the secrets of a mysterious and hostile Yorkshire village. The dialogues are all very natural despite the unusual plot and Thomasina, our protagonist, is a very likeable and relatable character. The voice acting is top tier. Directed by Dave Gilbert it presents a carefully chosen cast of very talented voices with appropriate northern accents. It's not a horror game in any traditional sense, it has more of a gothic vibe to it, but it's nevertheless masterfully made and loves to play with the uncanny. Both the extremely atmospheric soundtrack by The Machine. The Demon. and the stylised pixel art help to make you feel unsafe at all times. While the spooky part only starts in the last third, the game plants this extremely unsettling feeling in you from the very beginning. Something will go terribly wrong and you can't do anything about it. The very nature of cosmic horror, the inescapability of something bigger than life lies at the core of this story and the protagonist is just a pawn. Also, the game is set in the rainy autumnal Yorkshire moors, and that's just instant bonus points for a Wuthering Heights fan like me. Atmospheric setting doesn't get any better than this! Recommended for any point & click fan, but also for anyone who likes an atmospheric spooky story. Ta-ra!