Grading Papers and Setting Alarms
Recollections of My Time with Nancy Drew Video Games
Lately, I’ve been reminded of video games my sisters and I used to play together, which has brought up many fond memories that I wanted to reflect on.
I don’t remember how it started, but it quickly became an established ritual for my sisters and I to huddle around our shared laptop and play Her Interactive’s Nancy Drew video games.
The excitement would build in my chest at the prospect of buying a new installment of the franchise. Deciding which one to play next was never a decision taken lightly. We compared the descriptions and photos listed on the game’s page, noting the various characters, locations, and activities. My sisters and I are very different so coming to a united agreement was challenging. But eventually someone caved, and we exchanged our (parents’) money for the coveted prize.
Then came the waiting game. I don’t recall exactly how long the download would take, but I’m pretty sure it was at least a day. At the time, it felt like eternity. Each of us took turns checking the little blue progress bar and updating each other. Finally, the game was finished downloading and our mystery solving could begin. The first time opening the game, walking through the playable areas, and meeting the characters were all invigorating experiences, like opening presents on Christmas morning.
For some reason, as children we often opted for the “Senior Detective” route which meant we didn’t have the luxury of asking for hints when stuck. This led to many frustrating hours of us wandering around the virtual world, clicking on random things and going up to characters for a chat only to end the conversation immediately because we had no new dialogue options. Despite this, we were determined to soldier on and not consult the internet for help.
Even the times we chose “Junior Detective,” we would sometimes encounter dry periods of aimless gameplay. The checklist certainly aided with keeping track of everything we still needed to figure out or complete. “Can’t check that off yet,” Nancy told us often.
I always enjoyed completing the rather mundane tasks that others might think boring. For example, the plot for Shadow at the Water’s Edge involves Nancy traveling to Japan and assuming the role of an English teacher during the day, leaving the night free for investigation. Part of our teaching duties were to grade papers. I can’t tell you why, but as a kid I absolutely loved this part of the game. I had the entire game of mystery and intrigue at my fingertips, but I preferred to sit quietly and mark papers with colored stamps. It’s like when you buy your cat a cool toy, but they just want to play with the box it comes in. That’s not exactly supposed to be the fun part.
I’ll never forget the time that we were completely and utterly stuck for days with no idea what to do next. We tried every possible action and searched everywhere for a new clue, but our efforts yielded nothing. As I mentioned before, I enjoyed the in-between moments where I could take photos with the phone or set our ringtone to a cow mooing. So, one day, my sisters left me to do as I pleased because of our lack of progress. As I messed around with the phone, I decided to set the alarm to see what would happen. Turns out, that was exactly what we needed to do to progress the story, and I’ll never let my sisters forget it. Now they think twice about rolling their eyes at me completing all the little tasks.
Lately, my sisters and I (all adults now) have ventured back into the wondrous world of Nancy Drew and played through a few other titles. Somehow, they haven’t gotten any easier to play through and, in fact, some have seemed more difficult, though I may be misremembering the number of times and length of time that we got stuck on each game when we were younger. Regardless, these games still provide an interesting challenge even as adults.
My favorite of the more recent games we’ve traversed is Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon. This one was intriguing to us since the majority of it took place on a train, which we should have perhaps guessed by the title. I thought this would mean that the pacing would be slower and we might get stuck more with there being less to explore. However, there was enough to keep us occupied with a couple secret cars and plenty of puzzles.
It proved to be one of the creepier ones with many on the train believing the ghost of the old train owner’s wife still remained onboard. Not to mention that one of the activities involved arranging several very unsettling dolls that she used to collect. However, this game kept us on the edge of our seats, coaxing us to keep playing with some of the more eccentric characters and a storyline involving a hidden mine, a disappearance, and it wouldn’t be a Nancy Drew game without a whole lot of Nancy provoking others to anger with her somewhat tactless line of questioning.
Maybe it’s just nostalgia talking, but I absolutely love these games. No, they don’t have cutting-edge graphics or advanced game mechanics. The animation can be clunky and sometimes the characters have strange proportions, but these games always deliver a good time and a decent mystery to discover.
What fun memories!