The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow

The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow is an effective point-and-click adventure game that excels in creating an ominous atmosphere that carries most of the cosmic horror narrative. With a focus on characters and setting, the game only falters in the abruptness of its ending, whose anticlimax avoids some important confrontations.

We play as Thomasina Bateman, a young archeologist who receives a letter from one Leonard Shoulder telling her of a historical site in the rural town of Bewlay, named Hob’s Barrow. However, when she arrives in the isolated village, her contact is nowhere to be found, people avoid talking about the barrow, and some residents even urge her to leave at once.

The game is effective at building up a sense of dread from the outset. When Thomasina arrives in Bewlay, she finds herself alone in an unknown place, in the middle of the rain, surrounded by the never-ending moors that stretch out to the horizon. Some aesthetic decisions add to this foreboding atmosphere, such as the red font of the townspeople’s dialogue (Thomasina’s lines are in white for contrast), which makes even the most ordinary comment about the weather feel ominous.

There’s also the brilliant use of sporadic close-ups that display characters’ faces with a haunted expression, eyes bulging as if horrified, the complexion twisted as if in pain. During the train ride to Bewlay, for instance, a closeup shows Thomasina with a disturbed expression while she’s observing the moors as if the landscape itself was enough to instill in her a sense of horror.

The first hours have Thomasina getting to know the people of Bewlay, who are not always welcoming. There’s the drunkard Mr. Tillet, who hits on Thomasina despite being married and promises to tell her about Leonard Shoulder as soon as she buys him a drink. There’s the local priest who likes to quote Shakespeare more than the Bible, and in the square, there’s a little boy playing with his sword next to his bored older sister. At first glance, some of these characters may appear dreary, but there’s always something unsettling about them: the boy claims to be training to protect the town from a monstrous worm, for example, and the priest tells Thomasina that if she cuts his arm with a piece of glass, she’ll make him feel better. Mr. Tillet, meanwhile, simply disappears after going to the bathroom, never getting to speak about Leonard Shoulder, and we never see his wife anywhere: we always find Tillet alone, sometimes even standing still in the woods, staring off into the distance.

Thomasina usually introduces herself as a barrow digger, but the locals are quick to correct her, “Ah, you mean a grave-robber,” they say, marking how her mission may prevent her from receiving a warm welcome in Bewlay. She meets the conservatives so common in the countryside, the ones who are wary of strangers, technological progress, a woman with a job, and anything that challenges their old way of life. But there are also the ones whom Thomasina dismisses as superstitious because they appear worried about her quest: Hob’s Barrow is a name capable of sealing many lips in Bewlay, and its location proves to be as elusive as her missing contact, Leonard Shoulder.

Because of her father, Thomasina grew up to become a woman of logic and reason, who disregards talks of ghosts and goblins as just fairy tales fashioned to scare children. “Hogwash,” is her typical answer to the odd things the locals tell her. But Thomasina’s father is himself a ghostly figure in the narrative, constantly appearing in flashbacks and dreams, which are preceded by the frightening closeup of Thomasina’s haunted eyes.

Even though he’s paralyzed in bed, after a terrible accident, Thomasina’s father lies at the heart of The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow’s story, deeply influencing her actions. She’s following more than his footsteps, taking up the mantle after he got ill: she’s trying to emulate his entire personality and be the infallible, rational explorer that she believes he was.

Thomasina’s father is a shadow looming over her life, and as she tells Mr. Tillet, “I am in a state of suspended mourning for a man caught between life and death.” When a mysterious painter, clearly interested in her, asks Thomasina what makes her happy, her answer is telling, “Spending time with my father.” We can sense that he’s the entire size of her world, so it may not be a coincidence that she has no husband or lover, as there’s place for just one man in her life.

However, Thomasina soon learns that the danger of idolizing someone is that they’re often much more complex figures than the images we have of them. If the game deals with cosmic horror thematically, it’s mainly through the madness of having our convictions about the people we love shattered: how to be reminded that we love not a person, but our image of them (what we truly believe they are like), is akin to having the fabric of our reality ripped to pieces, for we can’t fathom the notion of loving a fabrication that, by nature, doesn’t necessarily correspond to the truth.

The ending of The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow, however, leaves something to be desired. It’s anticlimactic in the sense that Thomasina is never given a chance to confront her antagonists – not with a gun, but with words –, so its abruptness can end up frustrating more than shocking.

Mechanically, the game is a traditional point-and-click adventure but with more emphasis on dialogue than puzzles, with the more intricate ones being reserved for the excavation itself – the last third of the game –, which gives it a more distinct Indiana Jones feel. During town exploration, however, the focus is on finding items for people to earn their trust or help, but the most interesting puzzles have us work with these characters’ personalities, sometimes even putting them against each other for Thomasina’s benefit.

The ability to highlight the interactable elements in each screen comes in handy here, as it eliminates any need for pixel hunting. With the option to fast-travel (to avoid backtracking) and to save anywhere (to avoid wasting time), the game is brimming with quality-of-life features that make the experience as seamless as possible.

The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow is a great point-and-click adventure with gorgeous pixel art and a strong sense of atmosphere. It builds a memorable story that manages to impress even with its lackluster ending.

March 15, 2024.