The Excavation of Hob's Barrow

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow offered an interesting ~6 hours with a nice premise: A lady wants to write, in honor of her dad, a book about the Barrows of england. This is why she arrives, invited by a stranger, to investigate Hob's Barrow only to encounter a reluctant, if not downright hostile, local population. From here on things start to unfold... After finishing the story I'd give it a 6/10 I did enjoy my time with it but have my gripes with the story. I'll get into that later, I'll try to keep it as spoiler-light as possible but due to me discussion the ending that won't be possible. PROs: - the voice acting is fantastic (and it is fully voice acted!) - the art is wonderfully moody and fitting for this . the premise of the story is great - I really liked at least some of the characters! CONs: - some "riddles" didn't make a lot of sense - pacing issues - it starts strong but especially in Chapter three you move through a gauntlet of riddles I found pretty tiring - the story fell flat for me Now the story issue: "The Excavation of Hob's Barrow" wants to tell a lovecraftian/cosmic horror story set in a rural english town. And I can *see* where the studio wanted to go with this and why they chose the ending they did, but sadly it feels too poorly executed to click for me. I did not by any means expect a happy ending - after all I'm playing a game with a specific theme, it was just the execution that fell flat for me. I think the game would've really benefitted from maybe one or two endings. None of them needed to be a "happy end", but maybe various iterations of different bad endings. I think "Slay the Princess" did this type of narrative better while games like "Doki Doki literature club" shows how you can take away player agency/character agency while still having the player engage with the game and transporting a slow descent into madness/mania. The story is still interesting and I see lots of folks loving it, so give it a chance. It's not a bad game, just one that I personally found narratively disappointing. But you can still see the work and love that went into making this game :)

This is one of those games where the ending elevates everything that comes before it. The game is full of Northern English charm and dark rural atmosphere and is well written, but the gameplay lets it down. I know this is a point and click and therefore it's gameplay is somewhat restricted by that, but most of the bread and butter of this game is following item fetch chains. E.g you need item C, to get item B to get item A. It definitely borders on the tedious at times. If you're a fan of point and click and lovecraftian themes, definitely endure the mediocre gameplay to experience the fantastic story. The ending does not disappoint, or pull punches.

英式民俗恐怖点击解谜典范，没有廉价跳吓，依靠氛围、乡土传说缓慢渗透压抑感。 全英文配音质感极佳，约克郡方言塑造出封闭村庄的疏离感，像素动画表现力超出预期。 女主考古执念的人物弧光完整，大量伏笔交织民俗传说，越细品后劲越大。 谜题贴合时代背景，道具交互逻辑严谨，很少出现无厘头 “万物互点” 式解谜。 前半段村庄闲聊探索氛围拉满，进入古墓之后节奏明显收紧。 结局偏向纯粹悲剧，几乎没有缓和空间，偏爱圆满结局的玩家容易难以接受。

Fun game, but it's a slow burn and the ending is pretty lackluster. Still recommend, but set your expectations.

Pretty cool point & click adventure game, nice atmosphere and the voice acting is a big plus. The puzzles were nice and not too obscure by adventure game standards. I would've really liked some branching paths or multiple ways to approach certain things but it doesn't subtract much from the experience.

Husk at følge SpilEntusiasten(DK)-Curator-side: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SpilEntusiasten/curation TL;DR En dyb, lineær historie, hvor du lærer mere og mere om Bewlay, beboerne i Bewlay og vigtigst af alt: Hob's Barrow. Godt og skidt (kort) Spillet er bygget op af en spændende og dyb historie med puzzles og meget dialog, som tilmed er indtalt. Samlet vurdering: 0-9: Elendigt spil, nærmest ikke spilbart 10-19: Meget dårligt, men teknisk set spilbart 20-39: Dårligt 40-55: Meh (højeste grænse for thumbs down) 56-65: OK (Mindste grænse for thumbs up) 66-75: Godt spil ✅ 76-89: Rigtig godt spil 90-99: Et mesterværk 100: En ægte juvel Spiltid: Jeg gennemførte mit første playthrough på 7 timer og 47 minutter. Spiltid 100%: Jeg optjente alle præstationer på 9 timer og 19 minutter Personligt pris-estimat: 14,99$ Steam Deck-kompatibelt: Endnu ikke testet

A charming, slow moving adventure game with a satisfying conclusion. The story and light horror elements keep it moving forward even if the scope feels somewhat small due to taking place almost entirely in a small town. Worth a look for point and click fans, nothing groundbreaking.