Разработчик: Shadow Tor Studios
Описание
Ведь сегодня день осеннего равноденствия, в точности как и десять лет назад. Ты вновь у того самого места преступления в поисках ответов. Может ли это случиться опять? Какие испытания и жертвы еще ждут впереди? Дальше машина тебе не понадобится. Ступай в старую рощу — темный мир, где ты либо докопаешься до истины, либо встанешь на путь тьмы.
К тебе вновь присоединится чудаковатая Эмма Харри, начинающий диджей из ночного клуба. Она беспокоится за свою несовершеннолетнюю подружку Миу, которая стала себя очень странно вести. Эмма слышала о каких-то ритуалах, церемониях и поклонениях дьяволу возле старой автозаправки в Бэрроу-Хилл. Вдруг Миа тоже причастна к этому? А это вполне возможно, ведь ее брат Бен был среди тех, кто пропал 10 лет назад. Неужели все возвращается на круги своя?
Особенности:
- Продолжение игры Barrow Hill: Curse of the Ancient Circle.
- Классическое приключение в жанре «укажи и щелкни».
- Исследуй рощи, валуны и заброшенные постройки местечка Бэрроу-Хилл, что в графстве Корнуолл.
- Жуткий саундтрек с правдоподобными звуковыми эффектами.
- Разгадывай несметное количество загадок и тайн.
- Полное голосовое сопровождение для еще большего погружения.
- Ищи потерянные сокровища бронзового века.
- Веди раскопки и находи места, где тысячелетиями не ступала нога человека.
Поддерживаемые языки: english, german
Системные требования
Windows
- ОС *: Windows XP, Vista
- Процессор: 1.5 Ghz
- Оперативная память: 1 GB ОЗУ
- Видеокарта: 128 MB DX 9.0c compliant video card
- DirectX: версии 9.0c
- Место на диске: 4 GB
- Звуковая карта: DirectX 9 Compatible Audio
- ОС *: Windows 7,8,10
- Процессор: 3.0 Ghz
- Оперативная память: 2 GB ОЗУ
- Видеокарта: 256 MB DX 9.0c compliant video card
- DirectX: версии 9.0c
- Место на диске: 4 GB
- Звуковая карта: DirectX 9 Compatible Audio
Отзывы пользователей
Really cool traditional point-and-click game!
You don't need to play the first game in order to understand the story and to play this one, however I would definitely recommend playing the first one first in order to foresee what kind of puzzles you are getting in this one too.
The atmosphere and the music are still really good, plus the newer graphics look awesome. I agree it was an odd choice to mix live action and 3D models on the characters but I kind of got over it at some point and embraced it. The puzzles are a bit mixed. There are some weird searching puzzles with no clues where to look though it's not as bad as other games with pixel hunting. The puzzles in the second half of the game, especially the ones about the ritual I found really fun and intuitive. I enjoy simple puzzles where the "puzzle" is finding and connecting information between scattered documents and clues so if you enjoy those types of puzzles you will get them here.
I do think I preferred the atmosphere, story, and characters from the first game more, especially pacing-wise, since sometimes I think characters in this second one tend to over-explain or sometimes even repeat something that just happened in word form.
I still think this is a worthy successor though and I enjoyed playing it!
I have a strong fondness for the original Barrow Hill game. So when I saw it had gotten a sequel, I was immediately interested! However, the game just ended up feeling bland and boring. The magic of the original just isn't in this one. The change from animated photos to bad 3D for characters was also a poor choice, in my opinion.
Definitely get the original, though!
While I prefer the first game, this is still a worthy successor. The voice acting isn't as polished as it could be - one phone-in guest sounded like a child trying to sound like an adult - but the graphics are much the same quality as in the first game, and there's a lot to explore. Not everything feels intuitive, but maybe I just didn't spend enough time reading up on everything I could find.
It was certainly nice to return to familiar locations, as well as discovering some new ones. And it felt like there was more at stake this time. The characters also sometimes acted like idiots, which I guess is typical in the horror genre.
But even if you find the game scary, including the occasional jump scare you may encounter, you never have to worry about time. You don't have to race, you're never at any real risk, and you still get the creepy factor without the impending heart attack.
This game doesn't try to make any innovations, and I love it because of it. It follows the exact same formula as the first Barrow Hill and as a result, it succeeds in all the same ways.
The biggest draw is absolutely the atmosphere. There are no jump scares, nor enemies, and your character can't die or "lose" the game in any way. Despite all this, the game simply oozes creepiness and really makes you feel like you're all alone in the countryside with something menacing following you around. As the creators say, this is a game that you need to play alone in the dark to experience the full effect.
Puzzles follow a mostly logical sense of reasoning, although the game won't hold your hand with any tutorials or guidance. You'll want to have something to take notes with (I use my phone camera to take a picture of the screen whenever there's important text). As with any adventure game, there are one or two puzzles that'll make you say "that's STUPID" but hey, there's no shame consulting a walkthrough when you get stuck. For the most part, though, it's a "tough but fair" game in that the puzzles make sense and have a reason for existing, rather than just being unnecessary padding to make the game longer.
If this is your first experience with this sort of game, you might be unfamiliar with the clunky voice acting, typos in written texts, and other minor mistakes. Please don't let these distract you from the game, I promise they start to grow on you with time.
Barrow Hill: The Dark Path is a follow up to Barrow Hill: Curse of the Ancient Circle. It's been 10 years since the tragedy in Barrow Hill involving the ancient stones that took the lives of the Emmett family, Ben Kendell, and Whincy the dog. Once again, it's up to you to save the day and put to rest an angry witch who has been resurrected due to the fact that her tomb has been robbed.
Pros:
A mystery unfolds as you play
Decent graphics
Almost all of the puzzles are good logic puzzles
Clues are scattered about forcing you to find and put them together
Simplest of controls (Except for one time, you use the mouse and that's it)
Voice acting is decent (Females only)
Cons:
Too much reading (there is a lot of filler in the journals, information you don't need)
Voice acting for the males is not good.
Much like the first game, there are several puzzles to solve, each one them (except one or possibly two) are well thought out and completely logical. Also, the game gives you a good reason for going back to the scene where you almost bought it ten years before.
As far as I know, you can't die, unlike the first game. The witch seems hell bent on inflicting misery on our friends, not you. Almost as if the witch sees you as a curiosity and not a threat. With that said, if you're looking for a game with a sense of danger and suspense, then I'm sorry to say, this game has none of that. It felt more casual play and suspense. The witch does crop up from time to time and she does speak to you, but nothing really threatening.
I don't really have any complaints about this game. If I had to pick one thing I didn't like (besides all of the reading), I would have to say the voice acting for Gus and Ollie. Almost like finger nails on a blackboard, especially Ollie. What a whiny little sh!t he is. At one point I was kind of hoping that he would die.
At the time of this review, Barrow Hill: The Dark Path was selling for $14.99. I really like this game but I think that price is a bit too high. However, if you don't care about price and you liked the first game, then you won't be disappointed.
I really wish I could give this game a thumbs up, I really wanted to enjoy it, after falling in love with Barrow Hill: Curse of the Ancient Circle. But as somebody who now considers BH:CAC one of their favorite horror games, I can't give this game anything but a strong thumbs down.
This game feels like a parody of "Curse of the Ancient Circle". In contrast to the dark and oppressive environments of the first game, every scene in this game is seemingly lit with movie studio strength lights. You won't feel like you're trying to navigate a dark, claustrophobia-inducing forest as you did in the original. And unlike the gritty pseudo-realism of the first, the developers bafflingly decided to adopt a cartoonish art style that makes everything look like it's been made out of shiny plastic.
And then there's the "bad guy". Unlike the mysterious malevolent force from the first game, rooted in unsettling Celt folklore, this game's antagonist is a copy and paste of the Blair Witch who seems hellbent on showing you herself as much as possible, ruining any and all suspense by comically appearing just out of the center of the screen over and over and over again. It was scary the first two or three times. After the hundredth time I just laughed, and then cried thinking about how genuinely scary the first game was. And as if that wasn't bad enough, the witch repeats the same three or four lines in terrible voice over every single time it makes an appearance. If I have to hear "the ears of the crow" in that corny voice one more time I will throw my computer out the window.
And then there are the live action segments, which I have to assume were acted by community college theatre majors and shot by an overactive chimpanzee. And also the laughably poorly animated 3D models. And probably worst of all are the two characters running around the Barrow Hill area whose voice acting is so atrocious that I have to believe the voice actors were under the impression that they actually were involved with the creation of a parody of the original Barrow Hill.
I could go on and on about all the things this game butchers compared to the first, such as the utter shallowness of the lore and the inane plot of the overall game, but the above should be sufficient. The only people who should play this game are diehard fans of point and click horror adventure games. And even then, please don't spend $15 on this thing.
This is a clear case of a sequel being worthy of the original. I don't want to writing a novel of a review. I speak as someone who enjoyed the original and played through several times. The first game really made an impression, just like Scratches. As the years have gone on and we've lived through Penumbra and Amnesia, I've never forgotten Barrow Hill. If you enjoyed the original and aren't looking for reasons for this game to be a disappointment, I am confident you will enjoy it.
My thanks to Shadow Tor for taking us back up that Hill.
This is my favorite style of game! Mysterious atmosphere, soothing sounds, great and warm graphics (no 3D, so no motion sickness with this one, yes), nice music, relaxing gameplay (no rushing), the familiar voices (Lucy Reubens ....well no I mean the voice actress Emma Harry with her mesmerising beautiful voice). The challenge to escape this mysterious environment, the folklore, legends, history, background, the characters, the exploration of abandoned surroundings, the investigation, ... I could go one. Just everything in the game attracts me, like all their other games. I just love "the Shadow tor studios/darkling room team" for all the work they've done till now. This is a click and point adventure game with a soul!
And an absolutly 'must have' for all the fans!
I you like this kind of game, don't forget to check out their other games: Darkfall series 1 to 3, Barrow hill: curse of the ancient circle, The lost crown (my favorite), the last crown midnight horror.
And coming soon: "Bracken tor" and "the last crown".
Much love to Wincey ;)
If you enjoyed the original you've been waiting quite some time for this sequel, I know I have. It's an improvement in most ways, only major detractor are the daz models I suppose. The puzzles were fair but some of the item usage had me utterly bewildered. The flow felt stymied compared to the first, which struck me as odd since when I (inevitably) had to google how to use some items most seemed to comment that the first game was harder.
There's comments on bugs in the forum but they all seem cleared up at this point, I did not encounter a single problem in my playthrough. I applaud both the non-linearity of the game and the fact that it seems to play into the b-horror'esque nature of itself, but at times I feel like I should have brought a grater. Quite enjoyable.
i really wanted to play this game remembering how much i enjoyed the first one. but , ive given up, just cant get it going enuff to hold my interest. just wandering around trying to find an escape route is not my idea of an interesting game. ill keep it on my backup computor just in case i have a couple of days to waste after all winter is coming. it just doesnt run smoothly. im a dedicated gamer going back to myst 1, but this isnt my idea of relaxing. it just doesnt cut it. just my opinion.
This is a niche game. And I mean a very niche game.
If you enjoyed the original Barrow Hill (which is also on Steam) and you're looking for more, The Dark Path has you covered. If you've somehow stumbled on this game and are wondering what it's all about, maybe I can help.
Barrow Hill: The Dark Path takes place 10 years after the events of the original Barrow Hill game. You (as a nameless character) return to the old gas station/motel after all this time to find that it has fallen into disrepair. Nature has slowly reclaimed the site, vines swinging over the old metal husks of buildings. Your task is searching for a girl known as Mia, who has dabbled in occult rituals in order to find out what happened to her brother ten years prior.
The Dark Path is a traditional point and click adventure game. You collect objects, solve puzzles, and read notes to gleam information on the story. The puzzles are very logical and well done, requiring you to use clues strewn throughout the environment to solve them. There was only one puzzle I had major issues with, and that was the rearranging of the video clips. I don't know why, but I just wasn't able to figure out the context for them. In fact, I solved the puzzle mostly by accident.
The game has a heavy atmosphere, thick with ominous music and creepy, creaking ambient sounds. This isn't a traditional horror game in the sense that it's always trying to hit you with jumpscares. It has more of a creepy haunted house kind of vibe. But while the environment and the sounds are great, the voice acting and character models are another matter. It quickly becomes clear that this is a low-budget game. The voice acting is cheesy and the character animations are stiff and unnatural. The acting was hammy in the first game, but it's more prevalent here, with long sections of dialogue that start to grate on your ears.
All that being said, The Dark Path is a very servicable horror-themed point and click adventure. I'd recommend it for fans of the point and click genre who like a tinge of horror in their games. If you can get past some unintentional cheesiness and silly voice acting, you'll find a solid game underneath.
Ten years have passed since the release of Barrow Hill: Curse of the Ancient Circle. I enjoyed first part a lot, but unfortunately I can't recommend The Dark Path.
No technological progress since 2006 ever: game still runs some low-res 4:3, seemingly using the same 10-year-old engine. More than half a minute intro sequence is unskippable; voice acting of loooong phone calls is annoying; even v1.05 has a number of critical bugs that made me force close the game via task manager and restart from an older save (needless to say how embarrassing it is to replay half an hour of such kind of gameplay).
On the other hand it features some nice old-school graphics and puzzles are pretty logical.
In a nutshell, for the price given the product quality is much lower than one could expect. However, if one wants to travel 10 years back in time and saves often the game is the right choice.
Excellent... I was a big fan of the original Barrow Hill and this is a great follow up. It makes references to the original but in no way depends on being played in that order. The challenge level was perfect for me. I consistently got to the point where I momentarilly felt stuck and then cracked it. As always, screenplay isn't the strongest point from these guys but it's left me itching to play another from the Boakes/Clarke collection. Very much looking forward to Bracken Tor, Lost Crown 2 and Dark Fall IV.
This is exactly the sort of game I have been hoping Big Fish would do but haven't. There was one Horror based cool game like this a year ago on Big Fish but that was it :( So, when I saw this for sale, I got very excited! A horror based puzzle game with a cool story and super real graphics plus a little humor thrown in for good measure is my cup of tea. That is what you will get here. This game picks up after the first games incidents. If you havent yet played part one, go get it! It is also called Barrow Hill The Curse of the Sacred Circle. The story in both games involves an archaeological dig that has begun to excavate some stones near a town or place called Saint Awful (I believe). There are protesters against it who say that digging around in the stone hedge type area is bad and will cause soemthing terrible to occur....well, it does! This second part of the game, this one, expands on the story after the horrific nights events have unfolded years before in part one. So the game, the puzzles are great- from HOGs to more complex ones such as figuring out a code. This game and the first one are excellent and I hope the developer who I *think* worked alone on these great games will make more as two arent not enough! We need more of these point and click horror games in the HOG and point and click game category. Thanks for the fun :) 11/10 (wink) for graphics, storyline, how well the game runs on my old laptop, and for humor and wonderful acting. Gtreat game. If you like HOGs or point and click, this game is for you.
It's a rare treat when a game comes out from these developers, but that treat comes with certain known frustrations.
Trying to make sense of either Matt Clark or Jonathan Boakes is a bit of a fool's errand, as both have become known for inexplicable developer habits like:
--Not releasing an announced game all their fans want for long, LONG periods of time after claiming they finished them.
--Spontaneously releasing games no one had any idea they were even working on instead on no notice whatsoever.
--Skipping beta testing altogether, seemingly intentionally.
But something about those insane habits must be linked to a certain strain of creativity, because you just can't get games quite like these from anyone else.
I finished this game in the days leading up to 10/3/16 and can say that it now seems to be patched up to ALMOST ready for normal release. A few minor bugs are still obviously present, but I played through to the end with none of the severe issues reported by the earliest players.
Compared to Barrow Hill, the game is much better in that this one is nowhere near as unplayable without a walkthrough. The story is great, and the atmosphere is that "can't get it anywhere else" delight that makes some of us forgive the insane release habits.
A few bizarre stylisitc choices do stand out in this one. The game weirdy mixes human actors, with 2D sprites, with vintage 3D character models -- all representing the same cast of characters at different points in the story. This is made all the more surreal by the fact that the various representations rarely so much as even resemble each other on extremely basic levels (like hair color). This almost begs to be parodied, but, somehow, it basically all works and never gets confusing.
All in all, a solid (if odd) game for veteran fans of the point & click adventure genre.
The game is a non-linear adventure in which you can explore every main geographic area from the get-go. Unlocking any additional spaces comes only with successful completion of particular story-line-advancing puzzles. Clues are placed to help you solve the puzzles, and in some cases multiple clues are offered. Clues can be in any form- advice from characters communicating with you, posters, radio advertisements, or just using plain logic. There is a mix of myth and real-life mystery spanning several generations. And as this is the anniversary of a tremendous, unexplained event that still haunts the survivors, the former event is used as a backbone to this story line.
In theory.
In reality, you are forced to follow a specific, linear, and undisclosed story path. If you don't, the relevant clues or world locations needed to advance won't appear and leave you wandering around unable to complete the game.
One example:
Game Character 1: Make the movie! Urgent!
Me: Find all components. Make the movie.
Game Character 2: Make the movie! Important!
Me: Uh, dude. I did make the movie. Can't make it again.
Game Character 3: Make the movie! I will give you vital piece of information you need to unlock the next part of the game when you do!
Me: I made that movie! Now I get to wander aimlessly for hours because the vital piece of information will NOT be given to me since I made the movie the first time I was told, not the third time.
Or, if you are lucky, you are able to complete the game if you try using process of elimination and guessing the correct combination of letters and/or numbers in the puzzle. Speaking of puzzles... some puzzles have clues in the form of flat out answers (password is literally located right next to where you need to key in the password). Some rely on logic or every-day items (That the weird cylindrical thing on the stove in the corner partially obscured by weeds is actually a bug zapper for when you need to zap a bug. You are welcome.). Some require a bit of "research" by reading articles, looking at photographs, and finding journals. But don't think you will get a journal of your own. You need good old fashioned real-life paper and pen to jot some notes down so there goes playing in the dark to get maximum scare benefit.
Additionally, the characters are perpetually one act behind, offering story line, clues, and advice to moments that have already happened.
Example 1:
I find the clubhouse. I find the phone in the clubhouse. Character calls me on the very phone I found in clubhouse to tell me I need to find the clubhouse.
Example 2:
I find "secret" location A, interact with Character in location A, then Character calls me to tell me I next to need to find secret location A.
Example 3:
Interact with character. Interact with character a second time. Save character's life, get thanked by character. See character yet again and have a chat with Character. Character then calls me on phone and introduces himself to me because we haven't met yet.
And when you aren't scratching your head wondering why the heck everyone lives in perpetual flash-back land, you are scratching your head because the continuity of the characters is really bad and you aren't quite sure who is who. Why exactly was in game video-chat Emma blonde but in-game everywhere else Emma dark-haired? Why were some scenes generated with real-life actors and some with not-at-all lifelike illustrations for the exact same character? And in Mia's case why was a whole second set of illustrations used? Because two fake Mias and one real actress Mia wasn't enough? Plus using the same voice actors for mulitple characters meant they had to play each character as stereotypes, and these were awful, plus every advertisement on the radio that you had to listen to because you had to get the clue. Ollie whined to the point that I didn't want to rescue him simply because I would have to hear him speak some more. Shut up Ollie. Just. Shut. Up.
I have no idea why the original Barrow Hill was referenced so often. The only connection between the two story lines was the fact everyone kept whining that you fixed an entirely different problem ten years ago, so you have to fix this one, too. Most of the map was new. The evil demon beast of doom you must destroy to save all mankind was new. The type of myth that the game was based on was new. I mean, really, there was no tie-in.
I dismissed mild annoyances like non-game killing bugs, weird disappearing inventory items that were red herrings anyway, typos, odd navigation, and the horrendous, epic DOOOONG piano slam every. single. time. you picked up an item. The first time it was jump-scare terrifying. The tenth time it was tedious. The hundredth time (because I had to restart the game due to bugs more than once) it was incredibly funny. I mean nothing on earth could be more dramatic and in need of an epic piano slam than a freshly made pot noodle, right?
Would I recommend this game for purchase? No. It was relatively short. The story line weak. The acting sub-standard. If it was half the price and if you liked the genre I would certainly say go for it.
To begin: I want to reccomend this game, I really REALLY do. I cannot, in good conscience, do that. PLEASE go play Barrow Hill: Curse of the Ancient Circle instead. It's 10 years older, sure, but is a hugely better game. (It's done, for one thing.)
I am deeply and personally disappointed in Dark Path as a sequel to Barrow Hill: Curse of the Ancient Circle, which was the game that got me into point-click adventures and games in general. I ADORE Barrow Hill-- I recieved it for Christmas back in 2006-- and it shaped so much of my love for gaming. It's been released on Steam now, so it's much easier to come by.
As for Dark Path itself, I guess I'm mostly bitter. I got it the day after release, and have waded through bugs and broken code for a week. Half a dozen re-starts, and being screwed over by unwarned sequence breaking AFTER the v1.01 update really took out most of my generosity for the flaws of this one. It's not as well-populated as its predecessor, uses poorly rendered and shaded digital character models in photos (as opposed to the real-life people you see in the previous game and even in this one), and beats the last game's excellent use of Celtic-flavored lore with the Wicca stick. The area to explore is so much smaller, there's almost nothing to interact with outside of puzzles, much of the voice acting is just poor, and it completely lacks the atmosphere and tension of Barrow Hill: Curse of the Ancient Circle.
As its own game, once the sequence bugs are fixed and we have an actual final product, it could be quite good. But, as a sequel to my favorite point-click horror game: Dismally disappointing. And that's the worst part.
I'm holding out hope for Bracken Tor-- the sequel we were promised, and hopefully the one we deserve-- but I'm legitimately hurt that this was what we were given instead.
So many of us were waiting for a sequel to the original Barrow Hill .
I can truthfully say , that The Dark Path is a worthy successor.
What a treat!
it is a straight forward ADVENTURE game.
It is AWESOME, makes one use one's brain, and is engrossing.
Much to see and to figure out.
From the little I've played so far, it seems to have the same sort of tone and feel as the first game (and other Shadow Tor/Darkling Room games). Expect awkward gameplay, goofy characters and really odd game design choices.
The game tries to be different and seems to possess a kind of strange earnest charm that I admire though, so I can't hate it.
Certainly not for everyone. If you enjoyed the first one, I'd recommend it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgu8tmDdyQ4
Been waiting for another Shadow Tor game for what feels like a lifetime and so far, it's worth the wait! The game is atmospheric, immersive and great fun. Love the graphics and tone of the game... highly recommended to anyone who likes a bit of thinking with spooky atmosphere.
Always struggle to find others game to match the likes of Barrow Hill and The Lost Crown so it's good to be back!
As a fan of this genre, and specifically shadow tor and darkling room style games, I feel compelled to write a premature review given the only review for this game is negative. I'm about 3 hrs into the game so far and it delivers on the same kind of tension the original did. The story is compelling and I would encourage anyone who is a fan of Matt Clark and Jonathan boakes games to give this one a shot. My only complaint is that I am currently unable to progress due to bug. I will amend this review once I finish the game.
Игры похожие на Barrow Hill: The Dark Path
Дополнительная информация
| Разработчик | Shadow Tor Studios |
| Платформы | Windows |
| Ограничение возраста | Нет |
| Дата релиза | 22.12.2024 |
| Отзывы пользователей | 74% положительных (93) |