Point-and-click mystery game The Excavation of Hob's Barrow tells a short but complex tale that's wonderfully voice acted, with a narrative that manages to still take some shocking turns in its somewhat brief runtime. Hob's Barrow comes from developer Cloak and Dagger Games, which specializes in point-and-clicks, and publisher Wadjet Eye Games, which has previously been a part of titles like Old Skies and Primordia. The game is a brilliant blend of folklore and cosmic horror that's only bogged down by a few fetch quests that feel more drawn out than they need to be.
One of the first things that stands out about The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is its unnerving ambiance. Similar to other great video games like Immortality, Hob's Barrow excels in having generally unsettling overtones that players can't quite place their finger on at first. When protagonist Thomasina Bateman first arrives in the small town of Bewlay, summoned by letter correspondences about excavating the eponymous Hob's Barrow, things feel off in a subtle way that grows in a marvelously horrifying manner over the course of the title.
This eeriness seeps through in every aspect of The Excavation of Hob's Barrow, from its soundscapes to the disturbing, more highly detailed close-ups which are interspersed throughout the game that contrast with the title's usual pixel art. Part of what makes a good horror game so impactful lies in strong characters and voice acting, which Hob's Barrow has in spades. The game is fully voice acted, and from the moment Thomasina steps foot in Bewlay the townfolk's varied - but mostly negative - reactions to her help set the stage for what's to come.
Each day Thomasina will have a various set of goals that can be found in her to-do list, with the overarching objective revolving around reigniting the excavation of Hob's Barrow, which was abruptly stopped years prior. Rumors swirl in town about why this happened, with warnings increasing about the place as time goes on. Players go about investigating Bewlay and Hob's Barrow in typical point-and-click fashion, with various dialogue trees and a growing inventory of tools at their disposal. While this is for the most part engaging and clever, the game isn't entirely free of the problems that can afflict point-and-clicks.
The main issue with a few of the missions Thomasina embarks on is their extreme fetch-quest nature, feeling drawn out in a way that doesn't necessarily enhance Hob's Barrow's narrative. For example, one quest begins with Thomasina searching for milk, but she needs help from a man to do so. However, the man can't help without fixing his aching joints first, leading Thomasina to search out a cure, a healing medicine which in turn requires hard-to-find ingredients that each necessitate their own convoluted discoveries. However, the bulk of Hob's Barrow doesn't feel this way, and even the more annoying tasks come with interesting dialogue.
Hob's Barrow isn't a mystery game about being a genius sleuth, but in a way that works to its advantage - Thomasina is often just as confused as the player, and can be an unreliable narrator. Investigating things still feels satisfying, in part to the game's control scheme. The version reviewed is a Nintendo Switch port of the game, and its controls make Thomasina's investigations easy and fluid. Players can highlight all clickable options with the Y button, and easily switch between them with the D-pad or freely select using either analog stick.
As time goes on and Thomasina becomes haunted by strange dreams and flashbacks of her past alongside some disturbing encounters in Bewlay, the cosmic horror elements of Hob's Barrow slowly come to the forefront, leading to the game's harrowing conclusion. With a recent resurgence of the point-and-click genre, this game is a great example of how to do the style justice. Although it's occasionally stifled by less-than-stellar quests, the overall storytelling, acting, and general ambiance of The Excavation of Hob's Barrows make it well worth a player's time.
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is now available on Nintendo Switch, as well as its previously-released platforms PC, Mac, and Linux. Screen Rant was provided with a Nintendo Switch code for the purpose of this review.