The Excavation of Hob's Barrow

Narrative-driven adventure done right, The Excavation of Hob's Barrow goes from suspenseful to downright ghastly, with the in-between being filled with excellent writing, awesome presentation, and flawless atmosphere. Lovecraft meets Edgar Alan Poe, meets Pagan folk horror, in a point-and-click that won't challenge your puzzle-solving skills, but will masterfully play with your mind, and force you follow the main heroine's journey towards her inevitable demise. The actual game requires five or so hours. The experience will stay with you far longer.

A beautiful point and click adventure that dives into the English folklore with a lovecraftian vibe. Great writing, strong emotions, smart puzzles... it works on every level.

Without comparing it to other big adventure games of the year, I'll say this directly: The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is one of the best adventure games released this year. Folk horror fans will feel right at home anyway, but I think this game is also a great opportunity for everyone to meet Dave Gilbert, Shaun Aitcheson and the Wadjet Eye adventure games.

The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow is charged with the aura of moors and local folklore. I really enjoyed taking part in the experience of the heroine stranded in a strange place were the real and supernatural worlds intertwine, but I also have to applaud logical puzzles and a really engaging story.

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is a classic point-and-click adventure that is simple and not particularly long. It would have benefited from a few additional sections, but overall the atmosphere, intriguing plot and excellent voice acting make it a good choice for fans of the genre.

Hob's Barrow is an excellent modern point and click adventure game. It takes inspiration from British folklore to deliver an interesting plot, with solid characters and inspired dialogues. The puzzles are interesting and can be solved using logic. A must have for fans of the genre in a year full of great adventures.

This is a cautionary tale of what happens when our human need for answers overrides common sense - and its disturbing finale drives that home with commendably blunt force. [Issue#377, p.120]

A quality little horror game with great characters and great atmosphere. I am taking off a few points because while I liked the story the game told, the ending left a lot to be desired. There were lots of seemingly answerable questions left unanswered, which didn't satisfy. Also the puzzles in the final area were mostly unintelligible nonsense.

The game has an original setting and atmosphere and is short enough to be worth a play-through. However it is not without flaws The first half of the game works really well, the suffocating atmosphere of this rural village will get you right away and you’ll really feel vulnerable as a lone woman not knowing who to trust. The characters are well written and the mystery and supernatural elements will push you forward. By the second half you’ll have more "point and click" elements ("get this item" to "get that item" to "get that information"...) and you’ll be eager to get back to the story. When this happens, it’s still pretty good The climax however doesn’t work really well. The entire game was about characters interactions and mystery, and once you’ve entered the barrow you’ll have neither. You’ll have pieced together everything and you’ll be left with cookie-cutter adventure point and click elements that aren’t really interesting to solve and don’t lead to any interesting discovery or striking imagery like before. The art style is hit or miss. The pixel art is serviceable and the sudden "high-ish res" images are really unsettling. However from time to time the animation or art are really clunky and will pull you out of the game Lastly the music isn’t bad but really doesn’t work with this specific game. Synths really do not gel with the setting of the game In conclusion: definitely not a bad game, but not a masterpiece either. If you are curious about it, it will only take you a couple of hours to complete it, so go for it.

It was a nice story until the endgame when it got a bit flat and seems that the script wasn't thought through. There wasn't any puzzles so the game doesn't challenge the player at all. Music was nice although quite repetitive