Nancy Drew and the Captive Curse

(yes, I did take pictures of my computer on my phone... how else was I going to text them to my friend to show him how awesome I am?)

Aw yeah! Time to solve a mystery! (ignore the sticky note. Homeschooling, man)

About a year ago (I'm guessing at the time, but we're gonna go with it) I started watching Gab Smolders play Nancy Drew games. And I became addicted (Here's a link to her playlist ). The addiction happened for a few reasons. One of which is that Gab is practically perfect in every way. Another being the games seemed interesting and fun. As well as educational. Which... coming from someone that obsesses over the historical accuracy of the Assassin's Creed games, this was a big plus. I adore video games that teach me more than which button lets me pet animals.

On New Year's Eve, I finally broke down and bought myself one of the games. I went with the cheapest one Steam had that I hadn't watched Gab play. I wanted a new experience, not to just follow what I already saw be done. And I was a little worried that I wouldn't like them when I actually sat down to play them. Then, of course, shit happened and I didn't get to play the fucking thing for about a month. But oh, when I did get the chance? Loved it. Spent about nine hours solving a mystery and clapping every time I solved a puzzle. 

This is a point-and-click adventure game where Nancy Drew is asked to come to Castle Finster to figure out what this "monster" is that is plaguing the place. So, off Nancy goes to Germany. 

I fully enjoyed the entire game. 

Graphics were pretty good. It was made in 2011, so keep that in mind. Scenery was *chef's kiss* beautiful. 

Puzzles were great. Some were easy for me. Some I took an hour to work out, but I never got super frustrated. I did pull out a walkthrough a couple times. During the parts in the woods. I have no sense of direction. In real life, and in video games. I once got lost in the woods beside my house. And in video games... My brother would have to get me out of my ship in Knights of the Old Republic because I just kept losing the damn exit ramp. So, yeah, I pulled out a walkthrough to get myself out of the woods during this game. I also used it for two of the last puzzles. One because it was timed and I panic during timed things in video games. Figured I'd just save myself the stress. And when I got to the last puzzle I knew it was going to take me hours to figure out, and it was already 1:30 in the morning so I gave in. I was tired and didn't want to stop just to have that last 15 minutes of gameplay waiting for me.

Characters were all pretty fun. I really liked Karl's game, Raid. I would play it if it was an actual game. Lukas was the stereotypical prankster kid. Kind of cute, though. Renate was spooky and fun. Wanted to hear more of her stories. Anja was smart and fun to talk to.

Great game. Five mysterious clues out of five.

Before you get into the game, you get this screen. Where you can learn how to play (I didn't need that, thank you Gab Smolders) or read about previous cases (games, it's a scrapbook of the previous games). I thought it was super cute.

The monster was none of these things. Which made me sad.

Lukas. Little shit was constantly just standing there when I turned around in the foyer. Made me scream more than once.

 

I got to learn some German!