The Excavation of Hob's Barrow - A Fair & Balanced Retrospective

• Features by Adventure Game Hotspot staff
• Published:

Normally a retrospective adventure video from the Space Quest Historian is for a decades-old game long past its best-before date, but his latest is for a title that only LOOKS like it would have been right at home in the mid-nineties – and perhaps has the bonafides to stand alongside the greats of the Golden Era as well. 

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow should be well known to any adventure gamer, as the folk horror game developed by Cloak and Dagger Games and published by Wadjet Eye was widely praised upon its release in 2022, particularly for its haunting slow-burn story, stylish pixel art, strong voice acting and "quietly unsettling" atmosphere. 

SQH is a fan of the game too, and happily extols its virtues. Admittedly, his strong recommendation comes with the caveat that he's good friends with developers Shaun Aitcheson and John Inch, but he amply demonstrates why the game's many fine qualities warrant the accolades anyway. Of course, to be "fair & balanced" he details some of the game's lesser points as well, from some awkward shifts in tone to an abrupt and drastic change of character for its plucky protagonist. Overall, though, these are deemed "minor flaws" in an otherwise commendable game that won't leave you feeling stumped very often and should keep you engrossed right up to its "brilliantly dour and depressing ending."

Fair warning for a newer game, however: there are spoilers galore! Big, honking, whopper spoilers. So if you have any intention of playing The Excavation of Hob's Barrow, go do that first! And then come back and compare notes, because even if you have a different opinion of the game (as Adventure Game Hotspot's own reviewer did), the Space Quest Historian always offers us a thoughtful, highly entertaining point of view. 

The Space Quest Historian is part of the Adventure Game Hotspot Network, a collective of talented, dedicated content producers who work entirely independently but have joined forces to promote each other’s efforts. All opinions expressed belong solely to the original creators. 

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