Recent reviews by DoNotFalter

Just wanted to let you all know that this game caused me to sit up in bed with my Steam Deck in that way that makes an older person's lumbar region hurt for several hours; my eyes dried to a powder from not blinking.

10/10, will do again.

NOTE: something a little weird with how my playtime is being calculated between various machines, but I assure you that I have the permanent health issues that accompany such anecdotes. Thanks, dev.

The cognitive dissonance in the original Space Quest games between the box cover art telling you that "Roger Wilco is hapless!" and the player's necessary mental exertion involved to solve the puzzles, is laid bare the moment you can type in the name you will be called by in the game.

It's one of the hardest lines to walk when narrative is the main driver of an interactive work: balancing the player's actions with the personality of the character they are directing in a world that is clearly alive, regardless of the players's presence.

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow's succeeds in this fully with the denizens and everyday life of the town of Bewlay.

From the moment Thomasina Bateman starts recounting the events that led to her writing a letter to her mother, any ambiguity is dispelled: the player is helping Thomasina relive her time in starkly bucolic Bewlay. But as players spend more time within the memories and stories Thomasina shares, the more off putting the narration becomes. It's not just that Thomasina is an unreliable narrator—the implications of the traumatic events that occured at Hob's Barrow are still a puzzle to be worked out.

This is the strength of the narrative design and writing in Hob's Barrow: as entertainingly crafted as linear story or film, but with eartnest player engagement required to work out what's happening in the very deep shadows of this cursed place.

The fantastic writing is supported by equally fantastic pixel art, music, and some of the best voice work I've heard in games…ever? The codgers, critters, and countryside all sound fantastic, the bleakness of the moors churning from peaceful to menacing with expert orchestration. Visual direction is solid, too, with sparingly, effectively used pixel portraits and closeups to highlight details both grotesque and filled with character. The dark undercurrent of humour throughout the game also adds some replayability for achievement hunters: some encounters are worth revisiting!

I played this entirely on Steam Deck, mostly curled up in bed at night, but enjoyed the grand finale while docked on my TV. Performance and control was flawless, regardless.

One of my favorite games released in 2022, and definitely one of my favorite adventure games of all time.

The hallway leading to my apartment is a straight shot of leopard print carpet. Depending how tired I am–and the kind of tired I am–that stretch of carpet can feel like a journey of a decimating scale, each step getting smaller and smaller; each moment passing longer and longer.

My eyes can play tricks on me while focusing on my steps. But my mind, more so. How did I end up here? What choices have I made that actually granted me agency in my life? What patterns am I rerunning from my family's history?

The pattern moves. Sometimes I feel like there's something pulling away at the edges of my perception. When I'm *really* tired, there's even a bit of dread, a feeling that has been more present since the pandemic hit.

And then I'm at my door. And my partner and dog are just on the other side. And maybe I'm not remembering how I felt just moments before so well. Or maybe it hit's me full force before I cross the threshold.

This game, which is a wonderfully complete moment in time, captures a lot of the rumination and abstraction within my sense of self during my own travel through reflection. I think hexcavator captured this well, even the parts that are more comforting than confronting, because I found myself leaving the game up on my screen for a couple of hours in the background while I did some other work.

This is a wonderful meditation, realized through an aesthetic that is both nostalgic and _impossible_. Well worth your time.