The Excavation of Hob's Barrow

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is a folk horror narrative-driven adventure. Explore the isolated moors of rural Victorian England as you uncover the mysteries of Hob's Barrow. The answers lie in the soil...

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is a point & click, adventure and horror game developed by Cloak and Dagger Games and published by Wadjet Eye Games.
Released on September 28th 2022 is available in English on Windows, MacOS and Linux.

It has received 2,149 reviews of which 1,990 were positive and 159 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.8 out of 10. 😎

The game is currently priced at 7.49€ on Steam and has a 40% discount.

The Steam community has classified The Excavation of Hob's Barrow into these genres:

Point & Click Adventure Horror Pixel Graphics Female Protagonist Puzzle Atmospheric Dark Interactive Fiction Drama Mystery Emotional Retro Story Rich Singleplayer Thriller Indie Cinematic Lovecraftian Investigation

Media & Screenshots

Get an in-depth look at The Excavation of Hob's Barrow through various videos and screenshots.

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Requirements

These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.

Windows

OS *: Windows XP or higher
Processor: Pentium or higher
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Graphics: 640x360, 32-bit colour: 700 Mhz system minimum
DirectX: Version 5.2
Storage: 2 GB available space
Sound Card: Any

MacOS

OS: macOS 10.11
Processor: Any
Graphics: 640x360, 700 Mhz system minimum
Storage: 2 GB available space

Linux

OS: Ubuntu, Debian, Arch - (64bit)
Processor: 2.7 GHz
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: Open GL
Storage: 2 GB available space
Sound Card: Alsa/DSP/Pulse etc

Reviews

Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.

Dec. 2024

It's one of Wadjet Eye's, although the story is not as complicated and branched as Unavowed, this game's story is entertaining enough for a few hours entertainment.

April 2024

This is a true gem of a game! For me good storytelling is important in the games that I play, and doubly so in point&click adventures. Short version is - the story is really really good and it's told in a very satisfying way as well. The writing team behind this game had and exceptional challenge to tackle writing the main character that will make some decisions that you as a player won't always agree with, and yet you will still love and understand the character and their decisions. This is an amazing accomplishment, and I can't praise the team enough for pulling it off as well as they did. Can't say more about it without spoiling the game. The atmosphere of the game is phenomenal, voice acting is really good, and pixel-art is stunning. It's only 8 hours long, but it's been on my mind every day since I completed it. More people need to play it! If you like mystery, horror, folk tales and lovecraftian-vibes, this is the game for you!

Feb. 2024

It was a cool little game and a great achievement for the team so I don't want to give it a negative review. I did however find the story quite frustrating, (pretty severe spoilers, please go into the game blind if you're interested in it for the full experience) the whole game you're told something is a bad idea, 'you're being tricked into doing something that is a bad choice', 'this is a setup'- which the character learns too, but ultimately decides to ignore. She's established as a smart character and a rational thinker so it felt a little off (I love my dad too but after 25 years of him being in a coma I'd probably take the time to consider things a little more carefully), if she had never believed the hogwash and stubbornly continued the excavation I think I would have supported her more. She also blames a lot of other characters for her actions which put me off her a little (despite wonderful voice acting). There's no player agency as we're forced to help her. It just felt quite frustrating and unsatisfying. It's a game of two halves, the first half being fetch quests in a cosy village. Its a shame these characters and puzzles aren't really relevant to the second half. A lot of time was spent on flashbacks to her relationship with her father that ultimately didn't further the plot. When you get to the puzzle dungeon there's not too much thinking as you finally get to use the cheat sheet given to you at the start of the game. I was disappointed to play another horror game that ended with a female character locked away in an asylum. The whole 'oooo maybe she's just been mentally ill this whole time eeeeek' is a tired trope and feels like a last minute way to deal with our poor main character. Maybe something closer to the end of Midsommar where we see the character embraced by the cult would have been a little more satisfying. Overall a really nice setting, great voice acting, some really cool imagery. If this is your first point and click adventure game its a pretty great introduction to the genre but ultimately might be a little too frustrating for people looking for something a bit meatier.

Feb. 2024

It's a decent adventure game that falls short in disappointing ways. The gameplay consists of puzzles & fetch quests. The former are decent, but the latter border on ridiculous. There are layered fetch quests in this game (i.e. Person A wants Item A, but to get Item A, Person B asks you to get Item B. Then it turns out Item B is with Person C, who needs you to find Person D, etc). These quests are boring, and will leave you wandering around the map aimlessly looking for a solution. They also feel disconnected from the main character's goal of excavating the damn burrow. You play as an archaeologist with a mystery to solve, but instead you find yourself milking goats and collecting flowers. The game is very dialogue heavy, and selecting each and every dialogue option does get boring. There are a LOT of times where Thomasina will ask someone about something and get a repetitive response, or a non-response like "I don't know" or "Please stop asking me weird questions, I am but a blacksmith". However as a whole, the dialogue is charming, well written, and especially well voice acted. Like the gameplay, the story is overall pretty good, but ultimately a bit disappointing. It should be enough to keep your attention for the game's 5-6 hour length. Other reviews mention the ending is iffy, but I liked it a lot. I especially liked the main character. It's great to have such a likable female protagonist in a setting like this, and watching her earn the respect of men who initially talk down to her is just cool. Unfortunately a lot of the plot feels incidental. This ties in with the quests feeling disconnected from the act of solving a mystery. Overall, the main character lacks agency. She doesn't solve a lot of her problems, she wanders into the solutions accidentally. In a similar vein, the player choices you have to make are limited. I've only done one playthrough, but I don't think a second would play out much differently. It feels like you're choosing how you want to roleplay your version of Thomasina, but not making much of a difference in the story. I picked this game up on sale, and I definitely got my $10 worth. I just found myself wishing there was more to it. What if there was a research mechanic the player could use, instead of having major plot points revealed to Thomasina in dreams? What if there were more meaningful player choices? What if there was more Lovecraftian insanity? What if there were more interesting mysteries to solve, beyond "what the heck is in this burrow"? Still, worth a shot for fans of the Cthulhu Mythos, or anyone who likes nice pixel art & voice acting.

Jan. 2024

A fun lovecraftian point and click game that is fully voice-acted and will run you about 4-5 hours of quality enjoyment. The weakest elements are definitely the lack of areas to explore compared to other adventure games, the lack of epic, overarching puzzles and there could definitely be more content and character development in the story. It's a decent recommend for most point and click fans, but also would recommend if you are new to the genre and want fully voice acted and accessible.

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