#nancy drew mystery of the seven keys spoilers

[netscapenavigator-official]

I just finished Nancy Drew: Mystery of the Seven Keys. I have a lot of mixed opinions on a lot of things, but I'm gonna keep this post abridged:

The puzzles gave me Ransom of the Seven Ships vibes. While there were certainly way more than in Midnight in Salem, they were way too hard, especially on Amateur Detective. I dread to think what this game is like on Master Detective mode. Maybe I'm a weenie and just way worse at these games than I thought, but this game, RAN, and The Deadly Device are the only three ND games that I've ever played where the puzzles got my so stressed I had to split my play time across multiple days because I kept getting headaches. I think I used the hint system or video walkthroughs to get answers more times than I solved the puzzles myself. Overall, not a rewarding experience, and I'm glad I didn't buy this game. This is the first Nancy Drew game I seriously considered not finishing.

The plot was fine. It would've been better with better graphics, a better environment, and better puzzles, but with those aspects missing, the plot was meh. I much prefer MID's over this game's, even though I really don't like scary games that much. It also felt like they were trying to win brownies points and distract longtime fans by including as many references as possible. I also feel like they realized what a botch job they did with Ned and Nancy's relationship last game, and they were trying to make up for it in this game. The problem, though, is that it felt... a bit forced and overdone. Like they were trying too hard to undo what they did last time.

Graphics were an improvement from MID, for sure, but still looked worse and more soulless than every past Nancy Drew game, even SCK and STFD. This game reminded me a lot of Supermarket Simulator... which is a solo-dev, Unity asset, early access Steam game...

The villain choice was interesting. Don't wanna get too spoiler-y, but but I just can't help but feel it was a shallow, surface-level, and rushed decision to chose who they chose to be the villain.

The navigation in this game sucks. I mean this wholeheartedly when I say I would've rather had MID's hybrid navigation system than either of these. The Modern Mode is soulless and makes the game a little harder. Part of the fun of point-and-click games is that they tend to only show you things that are relevant for the story and puzzles, allowing you to focus more on the puzzles and story as opposed to navigating this big open world looking for small items to click on. The Modern Mode in this game removes that and adds too much vagueness. Not to mention, the movement and gliding-ness of the movement gives "default Unity" vibes... which is fitting since the entire game sorta gives that energy. The Classic Mode isn't much better. This is the worst point-and-click system in any Nancy Drew game, ever. The click boxes are harder to find that SCK, but their more unpredictable in where they'll take you than MID. Truly an awful point-and-click system that only added to my stress playing the game. It was the clear that the new devs were totally fish out of water when it came to designing this system.

Overall, for the majority of this game, I was on the verge of stress tears, telling myself I just wanted it to be over. Nancy Drew: Mystery of the Seven Keys placed 32/35 on my ranking spreadsheet, just below Phantom of Venice and above Ransom of the Seven Ships. For reference of it's nearest games, age-wise, Midnight in Salem (2019) placed 15/35 and Sea of Darkness (2015) placed 7/35... so... I won't be replaying this game... ever... unless I absolutely have to.

Ultimately, the difficult puzzles were the Achilles heal of what could've been an semi-enjoyable game. This game, alone, has burned me out, and I think I'm gonna take a break from playing Nancy Drew games for a while...

[henrikvanderswoon]

the accuracy of the settings in this game is everything to me

[nerd-nickerson]

Actual horror games: not scary, don’t even faze me

Nancy Drew when HeR puts in a little jumpscare: absolutely stops my heart

[actualvelociraptor]

I love the game grumps "i shot and i missed" easter egg. best part of the game

[eye-of-the-phoenix]

I found this right after finding the note from Leo about feeding his cat and I'm starting to think there may be cats in my future...

[defectivenancydrew]

If I had 2 wishes for KEY:

(No specific spoilers)

Start the game at Nancy’s desk and make me click on the plane ticket. Give me a case file, maybe even a How To Be A Detective book. Bonus if I get a scrapbook and a light I can flick on and off while I procrastinate starting the game for no clear reason.

Let me call my phone friends whenever I want, even if it’s just to say “Hi!” and “Bye!” Bonus if I get to hear slice of life snippets when I call and then immediately hang up like a weirdo.

[daretoplay]

Game grumps reference found in Mystery of the Seven Keys

[francie-froo]

just Nancy pestering someone about their dead mother, nothing new😭😭😭

and ofc she has to relate too😭 man i missed this

[papenniesandbentoboxes]

I support women's rights and women's wrongs

[henrikvanderhussy]

All of the places where I found and pet Mariáš <3

Bonus:

Tragically you can't pet her in this scene with Leo, but you can still look!

[poorlydrawnnancydrew]

[nancynancydrewdrewdrew]

I just have to say it...I'm REALLY enjoying KEY. I don't know if I'm alone in this but it really feels like they fixed so many problems since MID and it gives me real classic nancy vibes. Is it 100% the same as the original series? No, but it's like 88-92% there in vibes and that's good enough for me! If the games continue like this I'm going to be one happy camper. The puzzles are great and actually really challenging, there are a lot of snooping moments, the setting opens up as you play, and more! idk I am just so happy and thrilled to be feeling like I'm playing an actual Nancy Drew Game again

[henrikvanderswoon]

firstly

i can't believe this is a starbucks irl

secondly

there's canonically a sex machine museum down there

[joons]

me: there's this guy ... [twirls hair] he's a puppeteer.

radek in the background: marionettist!

[nancydrew428]

Please reblog this saying whether or not you will tag spoilers for ND34, what tag(s) you will use, and how long you plan to do so for :)

[elliotchen-apologist]

im sorry but ned/nancy relationship in this one is INSANE... it feels like one of these couples whose only goal is to force others to believe they are indeed doing great and NEVER going to break up because they are sooooo obssessed with each other :)

THEY ARE HELD CAPTIVE BY THE STORY RELEASE THEM FROM THIS NARRATIVE