Barrow Hill: Curse of the Ancient Circle

About Barrow Hill: Curse of the Ancient Circle

Barrow Hill: Curse of the Ancient Circle is a first-person point-and-click adventure by the British studio Shadow Tor Studios, first released for Windows in 2006. The Steam edition is its digital re-release for the game's tenth anniversary, and it is also sold on GOG. A follow-up, Barrow Hill: The Dark Path, came out in 2016 and is sold separately.

You arrive near Barrow Hill, an ancient burial mound deep in the Cornish woods, on the night of the autumn equinox. The well-known archaeologist Conrad Morse has been digging there, the dig has stirred up hostility in the local community, and something has happened to him. Following in his footsteps, you find that the barrow is more than a ring of forgotten standing stones, and that a forgotten myth is waking up beneath it.

You move through still, pre-rendered scenes of dark lanes, a roped-off dig site, old shrines, a holy well and empty buildings at night. The structure is open: you explore and gather clues at your own pace rather than along one path. You use archaeological techniques to unearth artefacts, gadgets such as a PDA, a GPS and a metal detector to find clues and contact other characters, and CCTV footage to see what happened. Puzzles range from reading reports and journals to setting things right at old shrines, such as a candle puzzle in a stone chamber.

The fear is quiet and slow: an empty landscape at night, creepy music, spine-chilling sound effects, scrawled warnings on a bedroom wall, and Cornish folklore of sorcerers, piskies and beasts of the moor behind every hedgerow. There is no combat and little gore.

Critics were split when it came out. Metacritic gives it 65 from 21 reviews. IGN and Adventure Gamers praised the atmosphere and puzzles that fit the story, while Eurogamer found the ending abrupt and GameSpot found it slow and not frightening. Players on Steam rate it far more warmly.

It suits players who like old-fashioned British ghost stories and folk horror, and slow point-and-click adventures with atmosphere rather than action. A first playthrough takes about four and a half hours.

How to play Barrow Hill: Curse of the Ancient Circle

1. Click to move from scene to scene through the woods and lanes around the barrow.
2. Examine everything and pick up items; many are needed later.
3. Use your gadgets and the CCTV footage to find clues and contact other characters.
4. Dig and study artefacts to learn what the standing stones hide.
5. Solve the puzzles and rituals before the night is over.

Tips

• Play at night with headphones; the sound carries most of the dread.
• Keep notes of symbols and numbers you find at the shrines.
• If you are stuck, go back over places you have seen and look again with the items you now carry.
• Read every report, note and journal you find; the dig's paperwork and visitors' notes point to the next place to look.

Questions