The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow Review: Just A Touch Of Terror

I’m not usually a huge horror fan, but in recent years I’ve been drawn more and more to adventure games, and something about the look of The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow told me I needed to play it from the very first time I saw screenshots. Something about the look of this one, set in rural England in the late 1800s, drew me in immediately and told me I needed to check it out. After getting to play the new Nintendo Switch port, my first instinct was right on the mark, even if the Switch may not be the ideal place to play it.

Okay, She’s A Grave Robber

Thomasina Bateman makes her living by traveling around England and excavating barrows, burial sites from the past. She may protest at the insinuation, but she’s a bit of a grave robber, trying to learn history by digging up the dead and finding what they left behind. Her father did the same before an accident when she was a child left him paralyzed, unable to communicate but still alive.

She gets a letter from a man in the small town of Bewlay promising an interesting barrow is there that can be excavated, one that has a lot of ancient rumors about it that many in the town believe. He makes it sound like a perfect opportunity for her. Perhaps a bit too perfect.

A Mixed Reception

Arriving in Bewlay, Thomasina meets a mixed reception. The town just recently got a train stop, and before that, it was mostly cut off from the world. Most of those in town have never met anyone from London and certainly not a woman leading such an interesting life. While some in the village are excited to connect with the rest of the world, many like things the way they are and don’t want outsiders coming in and changing their way of life.

Things quickly go wrong for Thomasina. Her assistant, who was meant to arrive only a day after her, doesn’t turn up. Neither does the man who wrote her with the opportunity. She finds herself alone, trying to work out how she can still accomplish what she came to Bewlay to do while staying on good terms with the villagers. All the while, she hears more and more rumors about Hob’s Barrow and even starts to find she may have a personal history with the site. Sometimes the past doesn’t stay in the past.

Traditional Mechanics

Once you get into the game, The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow is a pretty traditional point-and-click adventure game, though a relatively simple one. You consistently move the plot forward by talking to the villagers, following leads, and performing some light puzzle-solving.

For most of its run time, the puzzles have more to do with locating things and satisfying the needs of villagers, though you’ll often have to put together the right chain of events to get what you need. The actual puzzles are mostly quite simple, and few will really challenge those familiar with the genre, though, for those who are new to it, a few of them may force you to change your way of thinking.

A Mostly Solid Translation

For the most part, the developers have done a strong job of translating the game to the Switch, which is not always an easy proposition for a genre so tied to a mouse and keyboard setup. Your left stick moves a cursor quickly, while the right stick allows you to move it with more precision. Accessing your menu is simple enough, and your shoulder buttons allow you to cycle through items in your inventory as well. You can also hold a button to highlight everything you can select on screen, a welcome option since pixel hunting is much more challenging without a mouse. Playing with an actual mouse would be preferable, but if you don’t have access to a PC, things control well enough.

I did, however, run into a few issues during my time with the game. The button to pull up your inventory liked to simply stop working at times, particularly after fast traveling. You can move your cursor to the top of the screen to bring it back, but it got old quickly. Twice after doing that, the game entirely stopped responding to my inputs as, well. I could still highlight things, but they didn’t do anything, and Thomasina wouldn’t respond to my input. Both times I was able to save, which thankfully did still work, and then reset the game to solve the problem, but that’s not ideal, certainly.

An Atmosphere Of Suspense

Any concerns about The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow offering a relatively simple adventure experience, or minor bugs, were more than made up for by its outstanding atmosphere, however. From the moment you set foot in Bewlay, there’s an ominous feel to things, whether you’re walking around in the middle of the day or late at night. The creepy factor ratchets up over time, but for most of its runtime, it does a good job balancing keeping players on edge while not going so far that it would put off those who aren’t huge horror fans. It feels like there’s something here for everyone.

A solid soundtrack definitely helps, but the biggest x-factor here might be the voice acting. The entire game is voiced, and the cast are outstanding, particularly Samantha Béart as Thomasina. This is a challenging character whose journey goes in a lot of different directions, and she absolutely nails all of them.

Conclusion

The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow doesn’t do anything new for the adventure game genre, but its outstanding atmosphere and well-executed gameplay should interest any fan of the genre who doesn’t mind a story that isn’t afraid to go to some rather horrifying places. Make sure to check it out.

Final Verdict: 4/5

Available on: Switch (Reviewed), PC; Publisher: Wadjet Eye Games; Developer: Cloak and Dagger Games; Players: 1; Released: January 25th, 2023; ESRB: M for Mature; MSRP: $14.99

Full disclosure: This review is based on a copy of The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow provided by the publisher.