This article contains spoilers for Nancy Drew: Warnings at Waverly Academy
A few years ago, my sister introduced me to a series of PC games, produced by Her Interactive, based on the Nancy Drew book series. There are currently a total of 33 games, with the first one releasing in 1998 and the newest one coming out in 2019. There’s also a 34th game in development right now.
These games aren’t very popular – most people have never even heard of them – but they deserve more love. Almost every game has a compelling mystery story and is full of fun puzzles.
You don’t need to have read any of the books to understand the games. I’ve never read any myself. The games that are based on books are very loosely based, but most of the games take a combination of storylines from multiple books.
The first game, Secrets Can Kill, was released on November 5th, 1998. Because of how old it is, you can’t even play the original version anymore. A remastered version was released on August 24th, 2010.
You don’t have to play the games in order, either. Each game has a contained story that’s completely separate from the other games. While there are occasionally references to previous games or characters that make cameo appearances, it’s nothing that spoils that plot of other games.
If you ever play a Nancy Drew game, I would highly recommend having a notebook to write down anything you think might be important. If you read a four-digit code or a character quotes something, write it down. You never know what is going to be useful in a puzzle and it’s very helpful to have things to look back at.
Out of the 33 games, I’ve played 8 so far. My favorite out of the ones I’ve played is Warnings at Waverly Academy. The game takes place at an all girls boarding school. Nancy is there to investigate the source of threatening notes left by someone called “The Black Cat”. After a girl receives two notes, something bad happens to her. The player gets to know the other girls – and possible suspects – and solves puzzles to uncover connections.
Warnings at Waverly Academy is my favorite game for a few reasons. I love the setting and how it all takes place in the same location, unlike other games where you sometimes travel around. I also love the characters; they’re all so fun and some of the most memorable characters in the series.
Waverly Academy has unique, fun puzzles, too, but the biggest reason I love it is because of the plot/mystery. Out of all the games I’ve played, this one has arguably the best twist of them all.
One of the other girls, Rachel, acts suspicious at times, leading the player to consider her as the culprit. It’s later revealed, though, that she was suspicious because there were actually two of her! She kept her identical twin hidden in her dorm, and the two of them would go to different classes.
Another one of my favorites is Phantom of Venice, which takes place in Venice, Italy. Venice is a bucket-list destination of mine, so I knew I would love the setting. While the plot isn’t as compelling as Waverly Academy, and some of the puzzles are more frustrating than fun, I still really like it.
Not only do the Nancy Drew games have great stories, they’re also full of fun yet challenging puzzles. Some can be hit or miss depending on what game you play and your personal preference, but I’ll highlight some of my favorites.
Waverly Academy is the only game I’ve played with a logic puzzle, where you have to match up people and things. In this case, you had to match the girls in the school with their favorite school subjects and where they’re from using hints you’ve gathered from talking to them.
In one unique puzzle, you had to arrange a series of dolls/toys in a dollhouse based on their position to each other, listed on papers you find as you progress. In another, you have to do a whole dance routine, following a pattern discovered in a letter.
The Nancy Drew games fanbase is small but dedicated. There are a few Youtube channels out there that are all about the games, but the most popular of these only has around 50,000 subscribers. The games are definitely not well-known outside of the small fandom, but I think their unpopularity is undeserved.
