I like point and click games.

They are minimalist, narrative-driven, and usually have to be creative in the way they deliver the game, since budget is more often than not scarce.

So when I found this game on Steam, I was quite excited about it. One of my favourite games is The Last Door, and The Excavation of the Hob’s Barrow made my heart think, if only for a brief second, “this might be it”. This might fill the hole finishing The Last Door, almost a decade ago, left in my chest.

A terrible idea, awfully dramatic too. And of course it didn’t materialise.

Now, I don’t think it is fair to compare one game to the other―and I’ll try my very best to keep my biases away from this review. You, dear reader, might tell me later how successful or not I was in this endeavour.

The Excavation of the Hob’s Barrow was released back in September of 2022, developed by Cloak and Dagger Games and published by Wadjet Eye Games. It describes itself as a folk horror narrative-driven adventure, and it delivered some of those with different degrees of success.

The story takes us to a small village in England, where the antiquarian Thomasina Bateman was invited by a local to check out a burrow. Thomasina, who was writing a book on burrows across England, accepts his invitation, takes the train, and on she goes to Innsmouth―no, sorry, Bewlay. However, arriving there, the mysterious man is nowhere to be found, and Thomasina ends up stranded in that tiny unfriendly place. But, no matter, because she wanted to find out about that burrow, and so, that is what she sets herself to do. The adventure is set.

Now, the game is an adventure through and through, and I think it is and it should be its selling point. The main character is brave, dangerously curious and stubborn to a fault. She also has no self-awareness at all, and thinks she is rational, even when common sense has missed her altogether. She stands in a strange village where people keep telling her she should mind her business, that she doesn’t know what she is doing, and does she listen? Of course not. She is rational! And avante-garde! She wears trousers (gasp)!

The narrative is being told by Thomasina herself, as she writes a letter to her mother. It is a nice touch, although shaky here and there. The game knows where to cut to enhance the suspense or the oddness. And it would have been almost masterful, if only for a tiny detail.

The music.

The soundtrack of Hob’s Barrow works against itself. It doesn’t fit the genre at all―be it the folk horror they wanted to achieve, or even the Victorian setting it takes place in. And this is so frustrating! It drags all the weight down. Horror scenes feel out of place. Emotional parts feel cringe or hollow. 

I had to mute the music on the second day because it was ruining the experience.

That said, the game in itself is pleasant. Beautiful pixel art. Thomasina can be a little annoying (and sometimes it is hard to think she’s an adult), but the characters around her are interesting. The mystery of the burrow was captivating enough to keep me playing it. It has engaging puzzles, with the odd one that keeps one guessing, “How was I supposed to know that?”. And yeah, once I turned off the music, and conveniently forgot it was meant to be horror, I liked it a lot better too!

The other thing that is disappointing is that although you have different options, such as lying or being truthful to villagers, this has absolutely no impact on the story. There is only one ending. What you see is what you get (no matter how convoluted it all is). So, it was sort of a useless addition there.

All in all, an interesting one, worth the try if you enjoy point and click. Not so much if you’re looking to play a horror game, as this ain’t it!

The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow is available for Windows and Nintendo Switch.