The story ticks all the boxes of a serviceable Lovecraft rehash, reminiscent of The Rats in the Walls or The Colour Out of Space, with a bit of modern folk horror imagery sprinkled on top. However, it never gets beyond "clanking its chains according to rule" to paraphrase Lovecraft's Supernatural Horror in Literature. Hob's Barrow adds nothing new or insightful to the genres of cosmic horror, folk horror, or point-and-click adventures that hasn't been done multiple times before. Sadly, there was potential here for at least an atmospherically dense and impressive game, but it consistently opts for the path of least resistance. The color of its eldritch horror is purple; almost every screen is composed using a rigid central perspective that often breaks up into a flat foreground and a muddy background without any visual tension. Lighting, rain, and background movement aren't integrated into the art itself but are instead implemented as overlays that just don't gel with the overall art style. The writing, design choices, and technical implementation of Hob's Barrow continually undermine its potential to create a truly dense atmosphere of rural dread. What remains is a serviceable if somewhat linear point-and-click adventure that 'just works'—but only in the most mediocre sense of the phrase.
