The Excavation of Hob's Barrow on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is a folk horror narrative-driven adventure. Explore the isolated moors of rural Victorian England as you uncover the mysteries of Hob's Barrow. The answers lie in the soil...
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is a point & click, adventure and horror game
developed by Cloak and Dagger Games
and published by Wadjet Eye Games.
Released on September 28th 2022 is available in English on Windows, MacOS and Linux.
It has received 2,444 reviews of which 2,264 were positive and 180 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.9 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 5.62€ on Steam with a 55% discount, but you can find it for less on Gamivo.
The Steam community has classified The Excavation of Hob's Barrow into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at The Excavation of Hob's Barrow through various videos and screenshots.
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS *: Windows XP or higher
- Processor: Pentium or higher
- Memory: 1 GB RAM
- Graphics: 640x360, 32-bit colour: 700 Mhz system minimum
- DirectX: Version 5.2
- Storage: 2 GB available space
- Sound Card: Any
MacOS
- OS: macOS 10.11
- Processor: Any
- Graphics: 640x360, 700 Mhz system minimum
- Storage: 2 GB available space
Linux
- OS: Ubuntu, Debian, Arch - (64bit)
- Processor: 2.7 GHz
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: Open GL
- Storage: 2 GB available space
- Sound Card: Alsa/DSP/Pulse etc
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow is a beautifully crafted folk horror mystery that excels at atmosphere. Its pixel art captures the damp melancholy of the English countryside, and the voice acting is consistently excellent. Samantha Béart’s performance as Thomasina is excellent (many players may recognize her as the voice of Karlach from Baldur’s Gate 3). The musical score fits the tone well, supporting the mood without ever distracting from it, though I wouldn’t call any of it particularly memorable. Together, these elements do create a strong sense of place that carries the game through its slower stretches. The pacing itself is a little uneven. The early chapters feel slow and drawn-out, while the final act feels rushed. The puzzles are generally easy, though a few (like gathering elderflowers, getting milk, or aligning the snake pillar) can be a little confusing. For most puzzles, using the journal clues and exhausting every dialogue option will be key in solving the puzzle or figuring out what's next. There are a few dialogue puzzles or achievement but dialogue choices don’t affect outcomes and mostly serve as flavor, giving only the illusion of choice. Some unskippable sequences, such as having to listen to the entire song by the inn’s musician, are unnecessarily frustrating especially if you are playing through a second time to get missed achievements. The ending left a lot to be desired, in my opinion. Without spoiling specifics, it is bleak and predetermined, stripping away any sense of player agency. This fits the Lovecraftian roots of the story—fate is inevitable, and discovery leads only to ruin—but it doesn’t completely work from a gameplay perspective. Thomasina’s abrupt willingness to participate in rituals feels particularly inconsistent with her earlier rational skepticism, and the heavy foreshadowing leaves little room for surprise. I played 11.4 hours across two and a half playthroughs. That means a single playthrough is likely to take about 4-6 hours. Replay value is limited since there are no branching paths or endings. Achievement hunters will likely appreciate that there are a fair number of achievements and a fair mix of story unlocked vs. missable achievements. There's a little variety in the missable achievements which makes completing the all a bit more fun and challenging. There are 40 total and 15 of them are missable. Do to at least 2 being tied to a choice you will need at least 2 playthroughs to get 100%. Ultimately, Hob’s Barrow is less a mystery to be solved than a tragedy to be witnessed. If you expect branching choices or narrative payoff, you may walk away disappointed. But if you’re open to a slow, beautifully realized descent into inevitable doom, it delivers that experience with style. I think fans of Lovecraftian stories will like this most. P&C adventure fans who like to lean into horror will probably enjoy this too, but they may find the ending dissatisfying as it doesn't feel like a satisfying conclusion to the story arc. It feels like it needs a second part to me, in which Thomasina could redeem hersellf or get revenge or something.
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8.3/10 Pros- * The Writing and Storytelling * The Art and Atmosphere * The Sound Design Cons- * Puzzle Pacing (some puzzles are unintuitive and slows the story down) I didn’t expect this game to get under my skin the way it did. Even though its pixel art, it all feels so alive; the villagers, the unease, the houses, and ofcourse, the moors which feel like they could truly swallow you whole. It is the kind of horror that doesn’t rely on jump scares or gore, but something far more insidious: the horror of inevitability, of ancient truths that care little for human ambition. Days after playing, I still think about the final scenes. About Thomasina. About the barrow. About what we disturb when we dig too deep.
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This isn't a long game but it the art style and sound design made the story very atmospheric and tense. As a northern lass I was happy to have regional British accents in a game and Herbert the cat is an icon.
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A great atmospheric horror game. i don't normally care if a game has voice acting or not but the voice acting was incredible! I see that most complaints are that your choices don't matter but i think the story is done so well that it's not held back by a lack of multiple endings.
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I kept seeing this title in my library, wanting to try it, and putting it off. I finally bit the bullet and I'm so glad I did. Even though, as I just finished the game, it's left me feeling sad and empty. That's what an excellent story, or a great piece of art does, makes you feel something. This was creepy enough, interesting, quaint. Almost like a cozy mystery. And because you enjoyed the quaint characters and village and settings, it makes it all the more heartbreaking when something bad happens. *sniffle* Great game! I'll follow this studio from here on.
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Frequently Asked Questions
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is currently priced at 5.62€ on Steam.
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is currently available at a 55% discount. You can purchase it for 5.62€ on Steam.
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow received 2,264 positive votes out of a total of 2,444 achieving a rating of 8.86.
😎
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow was developed by Cloak and Dagger Games and published by Wadjet Eye Games.
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is playable and fully supported on Windows.
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is playable and fully supported on MacOS.
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is playable and fully supported on Linux.
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is a single-player game.
There are 2 DLCs available for The Excavation of Hob's Barrow. Explore additional content available for The Excavation of Hob's Barrow on Steam.
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow does not support Steam Remote Play.
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for The Excavation of Hob's Barrow.
Data sources
The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.
Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 16 October 2025 15:26 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 18 October 2025 17:27 |
| Steam price | 28 October 2025 20:27 |
| Steam reviews | 26 October 2025 06:04 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about The Excavation of Hob's Barrow, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about The Excavation of Hob's Barrow
- SteamCharts - Analysis of The Excavation of Hob's Barrow concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck The Excavation of Hob's Barrow compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
30
Developer
Cloak and Dagger Games
Publisher
Wadjet Eye Games
Release
28 Sep 2022
Platforms
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