dearest reader, sit a moment with me and hear the ill-fated tale of thomasina bateman — no spoilers.
the exvacation of hob’s barrow is a point-and-click adventure set in the 1890s. you assume the role of thomasina bateman, an antiquarian who’s come to the northern english village of bewlay to excavate a burial mound. lured by the letter for promise of mystery and the chance to add to her book, vestiges of the antiquities in rural england.
upon arrival, met with mystery confusion and doors slammed in her face. this doesn’t deter her.
like thomasina, i am a woman of rational thought. as someone who come from what was once the middle of nowhere, being put in the middle of nowhere doesn’t scare me. not because i think the woods are safe because monsters don’t exist. you have to rationalise it like this: the moor with the mist you call eerie was the scene of a child learning to stay on a horse for the first time. flowers are grown there, weddings have been had. no, it wasn’t the feeling of isolation. further, a familiarity of what lies in those woods helps. i wouldn’t unless i had reason to, but i know if i wandered through the pines at night. owls, frogs, and toads. and if there are spirits, we are of the same blood.
what put fear into me was the scrolling feel? that there is something lurking just around the corner out of reach. there are maybe 5 jumpscares in the entire game and they’re from scenes that happen suddenly. trials and not knowing what would happen.
on accessibility: i played on steam deck and i loved it voices, the captions were good. like any point-and-click game there are times when you need to combine things and it’s not clear. there is flashing, content warnings for sexual harassment in which a man blames alcohol and you could forgive him. against my better judgement, i ended up making a friend out of him. he’s rational enough. in the end he was the one who mattered the most. body horror.
i found the ending deeply distasteful. so much so that i started writing a continuation! i’ve written 10 letters set just after the final scene. they’re not on a queue but you can expect maybe one a week. something small for us both to look forward to. any spoilers will be noted!
yours sincerely,
nashira de la rosa 🥀