History VideoGame / TheExcavationOfHobsBarrow

** [[spoilers: Goats seem to be prevalent, since a puzzle in the underground ruins requires six statues of animal heads to be turned to face "the Seventh Archontic", a goat's head. Also, a pitch black goat serves as the guardian of the ruins, and must be dealt with before the player can continue further.]]

* AnimalMotifs: [[spoiler: Serpents/snakes and goats. Goats seem to be prevalent, since a puzzle in the underground ruins requires six statues of animal heads to be turned to face "the Seventh Archontic", a goat's head. Also, a pitch black goat serves as the guardian of the ruins, and must be dealt with before the player can continue further.]]

* FunWithHomophones: [[spoiler: The Big Bad is a pagan deity named Abraxas Rex, a deity from real world Gnostic religion. The etymology of his name (also spelled Abra''sax'') is unknown, although some have been proposed. The name of the creature that lives in the barrow, a hobgoblin, is given as ''Sax''not, the name of a Saxon god from the real world.]]

** [[spoiler| Snakes also seem associated with Abraxas Rex, since a small coin/effigy depicts him as an anguipedal (snake-footed) human with a cockerel's head.]]

* SolarAndLunar: A stone carving of a moon is seen hanging on a character's cottage and in front of another' manor. [[spoiler: Lunas motifs also appear in the underground ruins beneath Hob's Barrow, as part of a puzzle]]

* Foreshadowing: Leonard Shoulder's cottage has a stone carving of a moon hanging on his front door. Lord Penswyck's manor also has one over his porch. [[spoiler: This serves to indicate that both men are in league with each other, and also with their deity Abraxas.]]

* OurGodsAreDifferent: Local landlord Lord Penswyck is renovating a chapel that once belonged to his ancestors, where he intends to revere God. [[spoiler: Turns out it is not the Christian God, but a pagen deity named Abraxas Rex.]]

* DaddysGirl: Thomasina is closest to her father, since he was the one that inspired her to take up a career in archaeology when she was a young woman.

* ChurchLady: Thomasina meets Mrs. de Plancy, a nice church lady that bakes sweets and gives the earnings to the local church's upkeep.

* AdventurerArchaeologist: Thomasina is an antiquarian: she explores tumuli in search of pottery, human remains and other indicators of ancient human presence - for all intents and purposes, a proto-archeologist. She also comes to the village of Bawley with a great sense of curiosity and adventure about what she may find in her next dig.

''The Excavation of Hob's Barrow'' is a point and click, adventure/horror game developed by Cloak and Dagger Games and published by Creator/{{WadjetEyeGames}}, released in 2022.

* FolkHorror: The game's description says it is a "folk horror" story, focusing on a mysterious landmark in an idyllic, but fairy isolated village in the moors.

* TownWithADarkSecret: Idyllic Bawley, deep in the British moors, houses a local landmark known as Hob's Barrow, which is surrounded in mystery and considered by the locals as a cursed place.

Thomasima Bateman is a Londonian antiquarian with an interest in excavating tumuli and similar landmarks across the English countryside. One day, she receives a letter from a local resident from a little village named Bawley, telling her of a mysterious barrow located in his very own home town - a place shrouded in dark mysteries...

* AdventurerArchaeologist: Thomasina is an antiquarian: she explores tumuli in search of pottery, human remains and other indicators of ancient human presence - by all means, a proto-archeologist. She also comes to the village of Bawley with a great sense of curiosity and adventure about what she may find in her next dig.

Thomasima Bateman is a Londonian antiquarian with an interest in excavation tumuli and similar landmarks across the English countryside. One day, she receives a letter from a local resident from a little village named Bawley, telling her of a mysterious barrow located in his very own home town - a place shrouded in dark mysteries...