I haven’t done that with Hob’s Barrow yet," he says.

“Basically, Victorian gothic horror story.

That’s the best way to describe it.”

A creepy looking cat stares into the camera in The Excavation Of Hob’s Barrow

“I said, ‘Hey, I played the demo.

I really liked it.

So now Wadjet Eye are publishing, and Gilbert is overseeing the voice recording.

Cover image for YouTube video

It is, to put it mildly, well creepy, right from the off.

Also they hate outsiders, thank you very much.

“And they were surprised like, ‘Oh, it’s like a horror game!’

Thomasina, the main character in The Excavation Of Hob’s Barrow, is exploring the moors. She’s looking at a rock cairn, on which a small blonde girl is standing and playing violin

And it’s this friggincreepything.”

Or is it actually properly supernatural?

They’re mobile and powerfully weird.

A goblin stares at a woman in The Excavation Of Hob’s Barrow

That’s another reason why I was drawn to it.”

Gilbert says yeah, alittlebit, but he doesn’t like the funnier stuff as much anyway.

“Whenever we do a more comedy-skewed game, it tends not to sell well.

Thomasina stands outside the village pub in The Excavation Of Hob’s Barrow, on a dark misty night

I think that’s just because I’m not quite sure how to sell those games.

If you have a creepy mood, you could compress that, it’s pretty easy to present.

You’re like, ‘Hey, this is a creepy game’, you know?

A woman enters an open doorway inside a cave with purple light pouring out in The Excavation Of Hob’s Barrow.

And then you have all this creepy imagery: here you go,” he explains.

“And humour is harder to do that way.

Because you have to see it in action.

A woman talks to an elderly lady inside a church in The Excavation Of Hob’s Barrow.

And you’ve got the option to’t just show us a funny screenshot.

Because humour becomes less funny, the more you are exposed to it.

This is why Gilbert is usually more drawn to moody, atmospheric games and urban noir.

A woman converses with an old man outside a cottage in The Excavation Of Hob’s Barrow.

Not that The Excavation Of Hob’s Barrow could even remotely be described as urban.

It’s folk horror through-and-through, and familiarity with that helps.

“‘Any road up’.

The main character in The Excavation Of Hob’s Barrow, Thomasina, is standing in front of a church door with a vicar. He’s saying ‘You’re doing God’s work, Mrs de Plancy’ to an older woman running a cake stall by the door

That was one thing.

‘Any road up’.

I’m like, ‘is that a thing?'”

He was assured it was a thing.

“But my brain isn’t set up to really tell the difference.”

In general, though, Gilbert loves adding voices to a game.

“It’s my favourite thing in the world to do.

But I still find that fun.”

“When the characters are this well-written and very strongly defined…

There’s not a lot I have to do to bring that out.”

I grew up near a long barrow that’s name-checked by Thomasina.

I’m pretty sure there’s nothing good inside Hob’s Barrow.

Except, hopefully, a very good Victorian gothic horror game.