The Excavation of Hob's Barrow similar games & best alternatives

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow

PC (Microsoft Windows), Nintendo Switch, Linux, Mac • 2022

Should you play it?

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...

What works
  • Strong narrative and atmosphere
  • Excellent voice acting
  • Logical and fair puzzles
  • Immersive folk horror setting
  • Quality pixel art and sound design
Things to keep in mind
  • Linear story with fixed ending
  • Some puzzles are easy or slightly convoluted
  • Limited player agency and customization
  • Short game length
  • Lack of replayability beyond commentary

What to play next

Similar games, hidden gems, and fresh directions from this game.

Top picks

Games that feel the closest overall

  • Old Skies

  • Syberia: The World Before

  • King's Quest

  • Kathy Rain

  • Foolish Mortals

  • Lucy Dreaming

  • Lost Horizon

  • An English Haunting

  • Grim Fandango Remastered

Hidden Gems

Less popular games with surprisingly high similarity

  • Old Skies

  • Foolish Mortals

  • Lucy Dreaming

If you liked…

Recommendations by what you enjoyed most

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Similarity map

Explore nearby similar games and see why they’re close.

How to use the graph
Similarity map

Each dot is a game. They are arranged from the same motivation profile as in the “Why this game works” section below. Closer dots usually mean more similar reasons to play (exploration, competition, relaxation, etc.)—not that one game is “better” than another.

  • Purple star: this page’s game — everything on the map is relative to it.
  • Coloured chips: click to highlight games that mainly differ on that motivation; click again to reset.
  • Dotted line: link between this page’s game and the one selected for comparison.
  • Hover a dot for a screenshot preview, score, and top score gaps; click to compare in the panel on the right.
  • Scroll or double-click the chart to zoom out and see more games.

Why don’t the axes read like a score? This view uses t-SNE: it only keeps who is close to whom. The scales are not “good to bad” or hours played—they separate groups on the map. Read distance between dots, not the axis numbers (hidden on purpose).

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow: A very typical example of its motivational profile. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Survival, Violence, Competition, Thrill. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Thrill, Intimacy. It leans lower than usual among comparable games on Expression.

Why this game works

A motivational profile of the game, with the closest similar game for each player motivation.

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Last update: 01/06/2026