The Excavation of Hob's Barrow

It's mostly good. But if you've played some classic point and clicks or anything else published by Wadjet, you don't need particularly need to play this. The art is nice and the voice acting is excellent. The first 3 hours or so are strong... ...because this is where the mystery is set up and you can soak in the folk-horror vibes. Once a journal appeared full of puzzle hints I sighed and muttered "Is this character-driven classic point and click going to inexplicably devolve into Myst?" And yes, it did. The back half is nonsensical and a massive shift in style from the earlier part. In which, spoiler, there's a bit where the main character admits they can't read latin, and the player's choice is either a) know enough latin b) use external translation c) brute force it (it isn't hard latin, so most puzzle game players probably fall into camp a), but it does rather undercut the idea of this being a character-driven story right? You know, doing the thing everyone disliked about the second half of broken age, where a character starts doing things despite having no way of knowing how? There are a lot of minor loose ends and plot contrivances that soured me by the end. Have you read Lovecraft's Shadow Over Innsmouth? It's basically that but with less fishfolk violence, weird downer ending and all. A negative ending is fine and inevitable in folk horror, but it's a tiny bit galling to have the smug holes who were obviously tricking you (and you have no agency to call out in any way) laughing at you after the game has just turned into narratively unconnected escape rooms for the last hour --I felt a little bit betrayed too.

Solid game up until the final part, where everything falls aparts in the worst way possible. HEAVY SPOILER ON THE ENDING AHEAD, DON'T READ IF YOU PLAN TO PLAY THIS GAME. [spoiler] Essentially it's pretty obvious to everyone and from the creepy visions and the need for our blood that we are about to unleash some demonic entity, and yet our character goes full r**ard and does exactly that, then writing an idiotic letter to her mother where she justify herself explaining all the tragedy that follow wasn't her, but the thing that possessed her. ...WELL, MAYBE IF YOU DON'T GO AND UNLEASH A DEMON! Have you though about that?... During the final part of the game this character goes from the smart and resourceful Kate Walker from Syberia, to a dimwit from some trash horror movie, and the worst part is we are forced to watch this idiocy unfold without any control over it...[/spoiler] Play it only if you can enjoy the ride up that point and don't care much for the end.

I have never been this frustrated with the ending of a game in a long time, the game was great right up until the last hour or two then nose dived into a complete slog

A slow burn folk horror point and click that nails its atmosphere from the start. The pixel art is bleak and well done, and the dread builds through implication rather than jump scares, which makes its unsettling nature linger with you. The voice acting deserves a special mention. Every character, not just Thomasina, feels distinct and well cast. Conversations carry a ton of personality, which makes the eventual unraveling of the village's secrets hit harder because you've actually come to care about these people. Puzzles are mostly grounded and satisfying early on, though the back half leans much heavier into puzzle solving, and the pacing suffers a bit for it compared to the strong narrative flow of the first two acts. Overall this is a game that trusts its atmosphere and voice acting to do the heavy lifting, and for the most part that pays off. If you enjoy folk horror with a slow creeping tone rather than constant shocks, this is well worth your time. Recommended, especially if you go in patient and let the mood sink in.

[h1] Genre [/h1] Ein Klassisches Mystery Point & Click Adventure [h1] Story [/h1] Wir spielen eine junge Frau namens Thomasina Bateman und wollen ein Buch über unsere Ausgrabungen aus ganz England schreiben bzw. wir sind gerade dabei ein Buch zu schreiben. Unser nächstes Ziel ist die Ausgrabungsstätte Hob´s Burrow die in einem Dorf namens Bewlay liegt. Warum genau sind wir überhaupt erst auf diese Ausgrabungsstätte gestoßen, das liegt daran das wir einen Mysteriösen Brief von einem Mann namens Mr. Shoulder bekommen haben. Im Dorf angekommen ist dieser aber nicht aufzufinden und wir beschließen uns selbst auf die Suche nach dem grab zu machen. Doch dies scheint alles andere als Einfach zu werden, zumal die Bewohner nicht gerade Freundlich gegenüber Fremden zu sein scheinen [h1] Gameplay [/h1] Es spielt sich wie ein typisches, klassisches Point & Click Adventure. Wir klicken uns durch verschiedene Schauplätze, sprechen mit unterschiedlichen Personen um Informationen zu bekommen, sammeln mal wieder allerhand Gegenstände ein & lösen das ein oder andere Rätsel. Die Rätsel fand ich mit einer Ausnahme gegen Ende, allesamt recht simpel & haben Spaß gemacht. Das Voice Acting ist absolut Fantastisch und es macht Spaß, die Spielwelt zu erkunden. Die Pixel Optik sieht sehr gut aus [h1] Achievement Schwierigkeit 4/10 [/h1] Es gibt insgesamt 40 Erfolge. Viele der Erfolge bekommt man beim durchspielen Automatisch & für andere muss man meist besondere Dialog Optionen Auswählen oder etwas besonderes machen wie z.B. mit etwas oder jemanden interagieren. Es gibt einen sehr guten Guide in der Community falls man irgendwo Hilfe benötigt [h1] Pro/Contra [/h1] + Story ist sehr gut gelungen + Gute Atmosphäre + Hübsche Pixel Optik + Nette Rätsel + Gutes Voice Acting + Achievements + Sammelkarten [h1] Fazit [/h1] Ein weiteres Gutes Point & Click Adventure aus dem Hause Cloak And Dagger Games & Wadjet Eye Games. Diese Leute wissen genau was sie tun und ich habe noch nichts Schlechtes von denen gesehen bzw. gespielt. Auch dieses Spiel erzählt mal wieder eine sehr Gute Story mit Hübscher Pixel Optik, Gutem Voice Acting & netten Rätseln. Ich kann es jedem Fan von Point & Click Adventures sehr ans Herz legen. Eine Eindeutige Kauf Empfehlung 👑 Powered by HoI 4 Deu Curators group in German / English 👑⠀⠀⠀[list][*][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/30388691/] Follow Main group [/url][*] [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/40282064/] Follow Second group [/url][*] [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44688798/] Follow third group [/url][/list]

Loved this game! The characters were interesting and I was captivated by the story. Great voice acting, too. I found the puzzles were the right amount of challenging. Is it weird this felt like a horror cozy game? ^_^ Highly recommend Hob's Barrow for fellow horror aficionados and/or puzzle lovers.

Aside from the slightly underwhelming final chapter I found the storytelling and atomosphere both to be pretty decent throughout most of the game, a overall enjoyable experience that shows that the adventure game genre still has a lot to offer. Addendum: Bonus points for not only being fully voiced, but having good voice acting as well!