History VideoGame / TheExcavationOfHobsBarrow

-->[[spoiler:''I can still scarcely believe what I saw looming over me in that stygian chamber. How does one even attempt describe the indescribable? The vision before me defied all logical explanation. All my efforts to do so have fallen on deaf ears, merely providing a chance to be mocked, pitied and dismissed as mentally unsound. I dare not commit that unfathomable glimpse to paper. But it was REAL, mother. HE is real.'']]

''The Excavation of Hob's Barrow'' is a FolkHorror [[PointAndClickGame Point-and-Click]] AdventureGame set in UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain, and developed by Cloak and Dagger Games and published by [[Creator/{{WadjetEyeGames}} Wadjet Eye Games]], released on PC in September 2022, with a UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch port coming in January 2023. The developers have cited the works of Creator/MontagueRhodesJames and Creator/HPLovecraft as influences for the work's tone and atmosphere.

''The Excavation of Hob's Barrow'' is a FolkHorror [[PointAndClickGame Point-and-Click]] AdventureGame set in UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain, and developed by Cloak and Dagger Games and published by [[Creator/{{WadjetEyeGames}} Wadjet Eye Games]], released in 2022. The developers have cited the works of Creator/MontagueRhodesJames and Creator/HPLovecraft as influences for the work's tone and atmosphere.

* CampbellCountry: The game utilizes the foggy, sparsely populated English moors, creepy folklore, and the distrust of the local community towards an outsider from the city to create a generally eerie, oppressive, and paranoid atmosphere. [[spoiler:England's older history is eventually referenced when Thomasina explores the innards of the Temple underneath the titular barrow, which seems to be overtly Roman in its origins.

* CampbellCountry: The game utilizes the foggy, sparsely populated English moors, creepy folklore, and the distrust of the local community towards an outsider from the city to create a generally eerie, oppressive, and paranoid atmosphere.

''The Excavation of Hob's Barrow'' is a FolkHorror [[PointAndClickGame Point-and-Click]] AdventureGame set in UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain, and developed by Cloak and Dagger Games and published by [[Creator/{{WadjetEyeGames}} Wadjet Eye Games]], released in 2022.

* NothingIsScarier: [[spoiler:The player never gets to see Abraxas Rex's true form. All they are shown are Thomasina's wide-eyed horror at witnessing his "rebirth" and hear the noises and growls he makes.]]

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

Thomasina 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 man named Leonard Shoulder, a local resident from a little village named Bewley way out on the moors, telling her of a mysterious barrow located in his very own home town -- a place shrouded in dark mysteries.

Thomasina journeys to Bewley, only to find that Mr. Shoulder, despite his promises to join up with her upon her arrival, never shows up at their appointed meeting spot and is nowhere to be found. Undeterred, Thomasina decides to continue her work, unabated by the scepticism from the local habitants of the village, who find this strange woman scholar from the city who wears trousers to be a most unorthodox sight indeed, and their foreboding hushed tales about what happened last time someone dared to disturb Hob's Barrow...

* 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-archaeologist. She also comes to the village of Bewley with a great sense of curiosity and adventure about what she may find in her next dig.

* FantasyForbiddingFather: Thomasina's father was a staunch believer in rationalism, and he therefore insisted on teaching her that everything had a scientific explanation and reject any notions of the existence of the supernatural as superstition and "hogwash". It is slightly played with, in that it is clear that he believed that discovering the truth through the scientific method could just as exciting and wondrous as any fairytale, and that it was this lesson he really wanted to impart upon his daughter. [[spoiler:It is quite a shock to her to learn that her father was looking into magic and was even serious about it during his own visit to Bewley.]]

* OminousFog: During Thomasina's first night in Bewley, the town is blanketed by a thick, dense mist.

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

* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: Played with. Upon finding out that William is [[spoiler:the enigmatic Lord Panswyck]], Thomasina begins saying the trope name, but William finishes the sentence for her.

'''William:''' "Someone significantly older and less handsome?"

* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: Inverted. Upon finding out that William is [[spoiler:the enigmatic Lord Panswyck]], Thomasina begins saying the trope name, but William finishes the sentence for her.

* TomboyishName: Thomasina is the somewhat antiquated female version of the male name Thomas, at least to a modern audience, who are probably more familiar with its diminutive forms, such as Tamsin and Tammy. Thomasina, meanwhile, is quite masculine in her expression, especially for her time; outside of very much being a DaddysGirl, she is also a woman who pursues an academic career and prefers wearing trousers over dresses.

Thomasina journeys to Bewley, only to find that Mr. Shoulder, despite his promises to join up with her upon her arrival, never shows up at their appointed meeting spot and is nowhere to be found. Undeterred, Thomasina decides to continue her work, unabated by the scepticism from the local habitants of the village, who find this strange woman scholar from the city who wears pants to be a most unorthodox sight indeed, and their foreboding hushed tales about what happened last time someone dared to disturb Hob's Barrow...

* CampbellCountry: The game utilizes the foggy, sparsely populated English moors, creepy folklore, and the distrust of the local community towards an outside from the city to create a generally eerie, oppressive, and paranoid atmosphere.

* OminousFog: During Thomasina's first night in Bewlay, the town is blanketed by a thick, dense mist.

* 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. Her relationship with her mother, in contrast, is some cold and distant. [[spoiler:Her devotion to her father is also what leads to her downfall at the end of the game.]]

''The Excavation of Hob's Barrow'' is a [[PointAndClickGame Point-and-Click]] FolkHorror AdventureGame set in UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain, and developed by Cloak and Dagger Games and published by [[Creator/{{WadjetEyeGames}} Wadjet Eye Games]], released in 2022.

Thomasina 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 man named Leonard Shoulder, a local resident from a little village named Bewley out the moors telling her of a mysterious barrow located in his very own home town -- a place shrouded in dark mysteries.

''The Excavation of Hob's Barrow'' is a [[PointAndClickGame Point-and-Click]] FolkHorror AdventureGame developed by Cloak and Dagger Games and published by [[Creator/{{WadjetEyeGames}} Wadjet Eye Games]], released in 2022.

Thomasina 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 man named Leonard Shoulder, a local resident from a little village named Bewley telling her of a mysterious barrow located in his very own home town -- a place shrouded in dark mysteries.

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

Thomasina 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 - for all intents and purposes, a proto-archaeologist. 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.
* AnimalMotifs: [[spoiler: Serpents/snakes and goats]].

** [[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.]]

* BloodMagic: [[spoiler: Some 25 years ago, Thomasina's own father led an expedition to the same Hob's Barrow, with disastrous consequences for all involved. Before he left, he trapped Abraxas deep in its chamber with a binding spell and his own blood. The bad guys intend to resurrect their deity by having Thomasina break the spell with her blood.]]
* CharacterNarrator: Thomasina is both the player character ''and'' the story's narrator, telling the events of the titular excavation to an unseen person.

* 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. [[spoiler: Her devotion to her father is also what leads to her downfall at the end of the game.]]
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: And how! Lord Panswyck and Leonard Shoulder trick Thomasina into reviving their malevolent deity, Abraxas Rex. Thomasina, possessed by the deity, murders her housemaids and her own father, and gets locked up in a mental institution for the rest of her life, with her own mother refusing to speak to her.]]

* Main/{{Foreshadowing}}: Leonard Shoulder's cottage has a stone carving of a moon hanging on his front door. Lord Panswyck'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.]]
* 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. In-universe, Saxnot seems to be some sort of servant of the barrow.]]

* GruesomeGoat: [[spoiler: The guardian of the underground ruins is a goat black as pitch. After Thomasina deals with him by solving a puzzle, the animal disappears in wisps of black smoke.]]
* MysteriousPurple: This is the colour of Thomasina's dreams and strange visions that come up at certain points of the game. [[spoiler: Also the ambient colour of the ruins beneath Hob's Barrow, and the signature colour of the Big Bad.]]

* OurGodsAreDifferent: Local landlord Lord Panswyck is renovating a chapel that once belonged to his ancestors, where he intends to worship God. [[spoiler: Turns out it is not the Christian God, but a pagan deity named Abraxas Rex.]]
* SealedEvilInACan: [[spoiler: The deity Abraxas Rex apparently lived in the underground chambers for millennia, until Thomasina's father, unsing binding magic, trapped it down there.]]
* SolarAndLunar: A stone carving of a moon is seen hanging on a character's cottage and in front of another's manor. [[spoiler: Lunar motifs also appear in the underground ruins beneath Hob's Barrow, as part of a puzzle]]
* 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 to be a cursed place.
* UntrustingCommunity: Some of the residents treat Thomasina with indifference, even disdain, since she is a foreigner that has come to disturb the local Hob's Barrow - against the residents' wishes.

** [[spoiler: 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.]]

* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler: The whole game was a setup by Lord Penswyck and Leonard Shoulder, who intended Thomasina to enter Abraxas's chamber and undo her father's binding spell to release it.]]

* Main/{{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 worship God. [[spoiler: Turns out it is not the Christian God, but a pagan deity named Abraxas Rex.]]

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