Posted on: October 10, 2022
Duke_Mazzini
Possesseur vérifiéJeux: 111 Avis: 8
Great (yet dreary) folk-horror game
I'm the perfect audience for The Excavation of Hob's Barrow, because my favorite childhood hobbies were playing point-and-click adventure games and watching folksy British horror movies. And here we have a game that marries those two hobbies in very interesting ways. Without giving too much of the plot away...the main character is an archaeologist who is determined to open a sealed burial mound that has a bad reputation among the local villagers. The mound is supposedly cursed, but our stalwart protagonist is a rational person and doesn't believe in curses. "Hogwash," she replies, whenever one of the villagers warns her not to interfere with Hob's Barrow. This plot is great fun, but it's also quite stereotypical. It reminded me of The Wicker Man, Lair of the White Worm, Doctor Who and the Daemons...yes, it's pretty much a greatest-hits compilation of U.K. horror classics. But on the whole, I don't mind that the storyline is derivative - it's actually fun to recognize the various influences. Also, the dialogue and characterization are strong and give the game its own identity. The retro graphics are okay, but the misty moorland setting gets quite drab and colorless after a while. I also regretted the lack of character portraits, which I think are important in largely dialogue-based games. The puzzles are mostly good and not too hard to figure out, though they get a bit frustrating in the late stages. For me, the game's real weakness is that the protagonist is stubborn and not as savvy as you, the player. YOU know that bad, dark-magic stuff is going on in this town, but you're playing a tiresomely rational person who keeps ignoring the danger and blundering into bad situations. I wish you had more agency and could actually impact the plot - but no, you're essentially on a fixed course, The game cries out for multiple endings but alas doesn't have them. (I'd even take multiple sad endings!) It's still good, though; a 3.5 rounded up for its style and commitment.
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