Barrow Hill: Curse of the Ancient Circle

Barrow Hill wurde sicherlich mit sehr viel Liebe entwickelt und bietet eine recht düstere Atmosphäre. Das war es dann aber auch. Leider. Die Story war anfangs interessant und vielversprechend, verlor allerdings schnell den Reiz. Einige Ideen wirkten sehr deplatziert und eher albern, als gruselig. Außerdem hätte ich mich ohne Hilfe vermutlich nie wirklich zurechtgefunden.

A great game, which takes place in Cornwall in the early 2000s. As an avid point-and-clicks fan I have been looking at it for years, I finally decided to buy and install it 2-3 days ago and it is so interesting that I've already clocked up 10+ hours. It is an investigative, mysterious, dark (literally) game, I would not call it horror so far, but it is mysterious and eerie. Highly recommended for the fans of the genre and not only. A very well-made game in all aspects

Barrow Hill is a great little time-capsule of a game - it feels just so early 2000s. The graphics are wonderful and atmospheric in a way that can only be captured by pre-rendered scenes, and everything has this spooky jank that is so charming. I never found myself scared, but I was pleasantly unnerved. The gameplay too, is very typical of a 2000s point and click. You're gonna have to figure out some weird puzzles, not know where anything is, and generally be confused. Feel no shame from using a guide, particularly if you're not used to how these games work. Running the game in 2026 isn't particularly forgiving, however. While the game does run out of the box, I'd recommend looking into something like "dxwnd" to give you a little more freedom with the settings/resolution etc. Shoutout to the guy in the office.

Dieses Spiel und auch der 2. Teil, The dark Path, haben mir supergut gefallen. Es lief bei mir einwandfrei. Die Spielführung ist leicht verständlich und die Rätsel / Aufgaben sind manchmal knifflig, aber wenn man sich umschaut und auf die Hinweise achtet, gut lösbar. Schöne Gruselatmosphäre. Gerne mehr davon.

One of my favorites. Check out all of the Shadow Tor games.

If you like old school point-and-click adventure games, then you might also enjoy this one. If you don't like them, then it's very unlikely that this game would be your exception. Personally, I love them, and this game exemplifies a lot of what I enjoy about the genre. There's a large quantity of extremely necessary reading, as numerous clues are hidden in notes, journals, scientific reports, etc. The journal entries and scientific reports are particularly well-written imo, and I really liked delving into them and teasing out the plot-relevant details. Puzzles are logical and suited to the story, and the game plays fair with providing background info and hints...sometimes even more than once. There's one puzzle that you can solve in at least three different ways! The triggers for plot progression are mostly well-judged; there's only one that really bugged me, in which a location was off-limits for no discernible reason until the game decided it was time for me to explore there. On the less positive side, the graphics are dated and the voice-acting is amateurish (though not the worst I've heard), neither of which bothers me overly much but which may turn some people off. Also, the first time I played the game I was able to complete it without any outside help, but the second time I was playing with a darker monitor, and I ended up relying on a let's play to find some objects that I [i]knew[/i] were there but couldn't locate in the shadows. This problem was exacerbated by the navigational controls, which are a bit on the clunky side. The atmosphere is more unsettling than it is scary. There are a couple of very minor jump scares (seriously, so minor they barely qualify). Some of the sound effects are wonderfully subtle and eerie, however, and provide a nice sense of dread in certain scenes. And a couple of pieces of advice if you decide to play the game: 1) Keep pen and paper handy when you play. You don't have an in-game journal, and there's a lot of info you'll need to keep track of. 2) This isn't readily obvious when you're playing, but there are two possible endings, one good and one bad. Take care to get the one you want!

Great point and click game, I enjoyed it very much.

Game was bit weird. I personally didn't like the controls. Get it for nostalgia not if you're a newbie to the series.

Barrow Hill is a short, moody point-and-click adventure that delivers exactly what it promises: mysterious ruins, creeping dread, and plenty of strange symbols to poke at under dim flashlight beams. If you grew up on Myst or The Lost Crown, you will feel right at home here. The game runs at a fixed 800×600 resolution (which I only noticed after wrestling with it for a long while in DXWND). Despite that, once I got it windowed properly, the experience was smooth and immersive. It is much easier to see and play if you just let it hijack your resolution for the duration, though. There are not any volume-adjustment options, and the game is very loud, I had to remember to turn my speakers down by like 60% before starting the game. The puzzles are intuitive for the most part. At around 10 hours long (including my really messing-up at the end and having to go backwards to go forwards...), it is a tight, dark, eerie adventure. It may be short, but it earns its place as a cult classic. Just know going in: this game is a product of its time—and that is part of the charm. Final thoughts: spooky, simple, satisfying. Just do not expect modern resolution—or to ever figure out what the paintbrush is for...

This game was so fun! Fantastic atmosphere. You're being chased around by a huge rock. Sometimes it gets you. You also get to make one-sided phone calls. Video calls. On a phone that looks like a nokia 3310 and definitely couldn't make video calls. It's so goofy and I loved every minute of it!