Nancy Drew: Curse of Blackmoor Manor Thoughts/Review (a thread)
I have a feeling there will be updates to these lists, but here is the first category!
Group 1: No Spoilers (Minimal discussion of gameplay. Characters are discussed at surface level. No culprit mentions at all, duh.)
Group 2: Mild Gameplay Spoilers (No Culprit Reveal or Info)
Why do Jane and Ethel work in Jane’s bedroom? Why couldn’t they just work in another portion of the library? Jane is so isolated and doesn’t ever leave the manor, at least the library would be a change of scenery. Ethel teaches Jane so much when it comes to Penvellyn history and foreign languages. The library would be the perfect place to have all those resources at hand.
Why didn’t Jane go with Hugh to Rome since her mother is already there too? I’m assuming Renee has shared custody with Hugh, so a family trip honestly makes sense to me. Granted, they’re both working so who would watch the twelve year old delinquent is a valid question haha
Is the glowing rock radioactive? What in the world is it made of? Is it a normal rock covered in bioluminescent powder or something? Or is the rock itself glowing by nature? What is the in-game explanation for having a glowing rock at the end of dark halls and stairs? How could that possibly be practical??
How did Linda see the curse? Cell phones didn’t have flashlights in 2003 and I doubt she had one of Jane’s glow sticks. Did she have a flashlight of her own despite no one else in the whole manor having one?
Jane says you can come in her room anytime, even if she’s not there. But she’s ALWAYS there. No wonder this child is so sad and lonely.
What does the repeated symbol on Corbin’s coat of arms mean? The same symbol is on the first page in the Mutus Liber, but I can’t seem to decipher what the first two pages mean. What does the last page mean? Just, don’t touch fire? Because I think that’s self explanatory
Why doesn’t Loulou give up the culprit? Or at least culprit adjacent information? Even with the blanket over her cage, she can still hear things going on in the halls overnight and such.
Am I the only one who thinks it weird that Hugh seems annoyed Linda is unwell and never expresses any sense of being concerned about her? Like, this isn’t normal behavior? Best-case scenario, she’s extremely depressed. Regardless, she clearly needs therapy at a minimum. And yet, Hugh just complains she has temper tantrums on the phone and refers to her as being unbearable? I’m offended.
Why was Mrs. Drake the one to hire Ethel to teach Jane? I mean, I know why kinda, but I guess my point is more, why did Hugh dump his daughter off at a 700 year old manor, not put her in school or really pay any attention to her, and then shirk all responsibility for his own daughter off onto his aunt?
Why doesn’t Mrs. Drake ever check on Jane or even interact with her?? Like, Hugh is in another country, Linda is bedridden… I’m pretty sure Mrs. Drake is the de facto guardian responsible for her. But like everyone else, she seems annoyed by Jane’s mere existence.
Why does Nigel scream in the middle of the night when he isn’t in the library? This makes NO SENSE. *If you know, you know
What does the giant carnivorous plant eat? Do I want to know? Nancy can feed it turkey, but then it’s literally “hungry” again 30 seconds later. It’s kind of disconcerting if you think about it too long.
Why didn’t Alan do more to teach Hugh about Penvellyn history and just in general about Blackmoor Manor? Alan clearly loved his heritage and was a wonderful person. And yet, Hugh doesn’t seem to care AT ALL about Blackmoor or know much about it, despite being raised there.
Were Hugh and Renee having or considering an affair in Rome? Honestly wish we could call Renee briefly at some point.
Why can’t you ask Nigel about the Monster book he gave Jane?
How did Alan manage to connect a desktop computer in the late 80s/early 90s to thirteen separate ghosts? What makes the ghosts “pop out” from a pure mechanical/engineering perspective?
How did James connect the statue to the knight and the door chimes in the late 16th to early 17th century? To call it impressive is an understatement.
I want to understand the door chimes better. Corbin seems to refer to it as an “ingenious machine” that has saved a lot of lives and also led to Elinor’s conviction. But, I don’t fully understand how they work. I mean, I get the basic concept I think, but I would love to know specific details since they’re built up to be this amazing life saving thing.
Hugh and Mrs. Petrov are mostly useless as phone contacts. There, I said it. If you are reading this and you haven’t finished the game, just be aware lol. There’s some really good/important stuff they can offer, but mostly it’s very basic or random feeling questions Nancy asks them. And the quantity isn’t really there either. Ned’s useless. Swapping him with the Hardy Boys or just doing more with him as a phone contact would have been a huge improvement. Paliki Vadas is iconic, we needed WAY more of her. She was awesome.
Personally, I would have much preferred to be able to read about the various Penvellyns in books in the library, as opposed to Jane’s anecdotes from memory or one-off conversations with Nigel. I repeatedly felt like I had to remember a bunch of information that was easy to miss or forget and then there’s no way to re-hear it without reloading a save or making Jane tell you again. Even if they just added where you could ask Nigel to tell you again about so-and-so, that would have helped a lot. But I feel like the book idea makes a lot of sense within the game.
How does Linda go to the bathroom, shower, etc. without being seen? Has she gone weeks without showering? I assume there are communal bathroom(s) since none of the rooms appear to have an en suite. How many bathrooms are there? WHERE ARE THE BATHROOMS
Nancy interrogates a child about her dead pet. Nancy asks inappropriate questions about a deceased loved one cliché.
Nancy spends hours typing for Nigel before realizing he dropped off what she needed 6 inches away from her and left. Nancy is an idiot. Nancy does everyone else’s chores cliché.
You can only speak to Ethel when she sneak attacks you.
Why couldn’t Alan’s computer be used sometimes by Jane during the day for schoolwork and the ghost hunt just be a password protected program on the computer? You only need the computer at night and for a very limited purpose. It doesn’t make any sense for it to take up so much space in the library just for that.
Where was Brigitte’s telescope and why wasn’t the stand with it too?
Group 3A: HUGE Spoilers (Reveals Culprit, Easter Egg(s), and Possibly Cut Content. Read at your own risk)
I think it’s pretty obvious that Jane un-alived her guinea pig. The question is, was it truly an accident or did she kinda know what she was doing to it? Hugh mentions her guinea pig being black, but we clearly see the picture of it as being red. Was Hugh misremembering or did she actually manage to turn a red guinea pig black? If so, how did no one notice her guinea pig completely changed colors before dying? ALSO, Linda has no recollection of Jane even owning a guinea pig. The game makes it (maybe purposefully) ambiguous as to whether Jane’s guinea pig died before Hugh and Linda started dating/got engaged. Hugh and Renee got divorced almost 2 years before game start and the guinea pig died 1-2 years before game start. Given Hugh got married to Linda within two years of being divorced, the 1-2 years since the guinea pig seems perfectly reasonable for there to be overlap. Linda wouldn’t necessarily know about any pets Jane had before moving in with Hugh and Jane, so that checks out. The other thing that’s unclear though is, did her guinea pig have hair loss? That’s clearly the explanation she gave Uncle Roger (based on his letter to her). But my question is, why wouldn’t she take her guinea pig to the vet if it legitimately had serious hair loss issues? That could be indicative of a serious health condition. On what planet is giving your guinea pig prescription strength Rogaine an alternative to veterinary care?? Which of course just makes me think the whole hair loss thing was contrived so she could get her hands on the hair growth serum. But again, I have questions! If it works well enough to turn a guinea pig black and turn Linda into Sasquatch, why on earth did Uncle Roger need to wear a toupee? There’s no mention of him stopping wearing toupees or having hair regrowth, even when his hair and toupee are explicitly mentioned. I know, I know, it would probably be too obvious then. I’m just saying. Second question, did Jane explicitly turn her guinea pig into a well, guinea pig, OR did she accidentally overdose her guinea pig and un-alive it? Again though, hair growth isn’t immediate. How could she overdose the piggy for long enough it turned black but died from the medicine? I feel like the medicine would un-alive it before that much hair would grow, but what do I know.
How long has Linda been hairy/how fast did she get that way? Mrs. Petrov talks about pulling the curtain back and Linda looking fine except for being a bit pale A WEEK AGO!! A week before game start Linda was mostly normal in appearance and now she has several inches of dark, coarse hair all over her?? I think that’s literally impossible. Is this a game? Yes. Is that still a bit of a stretch of the imagination? …Yes.
How did Mrs. Drake not notice her allergy pills going missing? They’re prescription allergy meds too, so I feel like it would definitely be an issue for like a whole bottle’s worth to just disappear.
How involved was Ethel in all of this scheming? The game makes it seem like Jane was responsible for everything and Ethel had nothing to do with anything. But Ethel straight up threatens Nancy and it’s unclear whether it was Jane, Ethel, or both who threaten Nancy with the note, scratching at night, etc. Did Ethel even know what Jane was doing? It’s EXTREMELY unclear. The endgame letter gives little to no info about Ethel and any involvement she did or didn’t have. To clarify, I always assumed Ethel was a co-conspirator of sorts, but maybe that’s just because she’s so scary LOL. Now I’m second-guessing that and seeing it more as a possible red herring. The game isn’t really explicit about that though. Even just a little “Ethel was shocked to learn…” anecdote in the end letter would have helped.
How actively was Jane trying to find the Penvellyn treasure? And why the heck did she seem confused and angry about The Philosopher’s Stone?? Ethel clearly should have taught her about it. I mean, if Nigel (and therefore Nancy via his notes) know about it, it’s not like its existence in and of itself is a secret. From there, even if you thought the treasure was gold or something, upon seeing a rock you would be like “oh look, it’s the Philosopher’s Stone. Cool, I guess that’s the treasure. A 700 year old stone passed down from my ancestors is pretty nifty.” But no, she’s just like “ew, a rock?? What the heck is that about???” Like, come on Jane. It’s not just a rock, it’s THE rock lol. Get it together. But also, culprit uses Nancy to track down fabulous treasure and stalks her in the end to gain access to it cliché.
Group 3B: HUGE Spoilers (Reveals Culprit, Easter Egg(s), and Possibly Cut Content. Read at your own risk)
How do you trigger the dialog where Nigel refers to Nancy as Detective Drew??? It seems like cut content kind of stuff, but multiple people have reported triggering it organically in game, however, they aren’t totally sure what triggered the dialog.
How do you trigger the freaking frog dream?? Or have I been bamboozled lol. I’ve been told it happens after you first, have the portraits nightmare and second, get the easter egg from the teeth in Jane’s room. I have done the things and slept REPEATEDLY. I put 10+ hrs into a playthrough trying to be thorough and also trigger the Nigel dialog (to no avail) AND STILL, no luck. I triggered the lady in black, scratching the door, the note with the tooth…all the things. Still no frog dream. Is this fake news or have I done something wrong? I haven’t tried googling it for a video of it because I wanted to trigger it and be surprised.
How does all the machinery and equipment for the “treasure hunt” still work perfectly? Are all the initiates tasked with routine maintenance or something?
What’s the official Penvellyn policy on twins when it comes to the initiates and lines of inheritance? I ask because twins clearly run in the Penvellyn family. The only twins to be firstborn were Garrett and Gillian. Garrett drowned at 19, so Gillian became the sole heir. We don’t know which twin was literally born first and Charles doesn’t explicitly say he changed the line of inheritance in his journal. He merely states that his heir can be a female or a male. So we don’t know how much, if anything, Garrett’s death changed. (Adding in, upon further reading, Charles seems to have been affected by the death of his son and used that as a trigger for contemplation on the rules of inheritance and was the one to actually set in place the official Penvellyn rules for inheritance. He is the one who said the gender of the heir was irrelevant to their “right to succession” so to speak. I believe he started the alternating generations as well, but that’s a little less explicit.) Regardless, Garrett and Gillian were not an initiate generation, so it’s not like Garrett had been receiving training for seven years and then died. That would be interesting to know if the initiate role passes to the next oldest if the firstborn dies extremely young. I would guess that it doesn’t. Otherwise it’s an excuse for siblings to go after the firstborn out of jealousy. But anyways, back on track. Albert (an initiate) had TWO separate sets of twins as siblings. Josephus and Robertus were actually only born one year later. Which does make you wonder, if an initiate generation has twins as the firstborn, does the first out of the womb become the initiate or do they work together as co-initiates? Or is it some third option? It’s interesting to think about since it seems very possible to me seeing as there’s 5 sets of twins just in the immediate family tree. Nevermind the kids all the various siblings had.
Why can’t Nancy snoop in Mrs. Drake’s room during the day?
Why isn’t there a secret door leading into the library from the secret passageway? You’re literally, RIGHT THERE. Why isn’t there a secret door? Just seems like a missed opportunity to me.
Where did Linda’s steak come from? It’s not on the same dishes as the food from The Boar’s Head Pub. Was it delivered or did Mrs. Drake go out and buy it? Did Linda kill a wild animal? If it was delivered, who called it in? What was Tommy’s reaction? Did Mrs. Drake know more than she let on about Linda’s “condition”?
