This game wasn’t memorable for me but I don’t have any complaints about it. There aren’t any unnecessary puzzles, and it isn’t information heavy (although the plot is education driven imo). The characters I didn’t find particularly engaging but I didn’t find them annoying either. Perhaps I wasn’t excited about it because I played The Creature of Kapu Cave, Ransom of the Seven Ships and Phantom of Venice first which were also sea based plots. I did die a lot in this game because apparently safety was v important.
Plot (spoilers obviously):
Thug Nan heads to Washington for a whale watching vacation. But we all know how these vacations tend to go, you don’t even get the chance to start it before George’s friend get’s her whale boat ransacked.
Upon further sleuthing you learn that this is not a one time thing, many people at Snake Horse Harbor have been victims of this boat part snatching thief. Considering Thug Nan can’t even look at whales now, we have no other option but to do a lil snooping.
You get your helmet and get biking, you meet:
Katie: George’s friend, not very chatty, some sort of marine biologist. She’s kinda cute, I think it’s the freckles but no thnx, I’m loyal to frank joy mattie Ned. She gives whale watching tours, but has major competition with another local Andy Jason. Recently a whale came into the area and she’s all about protecting it.
Holt Scotto: Local fisherman old guy who is running for harbormaster, he’s salt about the whale and thinks it needs to gtfo so people can fish. Something something about the economy. He thinks Katie needs to stop shoving herself in everyone’s business.
Jenna: Owns the Hot Kettle Cafe, and no offense to this sad town, it’s the only thing that’s ‘happenin’ ‘round here. Her fam has lived here for generations, and she doesn’t seem to like Katie either. She believes that the orca should be reunited with its family.
Andy Jason: Owns the whale watching business that competes with Katie’s. His has a lil museum that I think is p cute. He’s been trying to get Katie to join him for a while now, but it’s because she has access to the whale, where he has to stay 500ft away from it at all times. I guess you could say that they’ve got beef.
As you explore, you find a bunch of bottles with notes in them. Jenna spills the tea on the ex harbormaster and his wife um… shoot what was her name… Hilda Swanson or something close to that. Apparently she went batshit when the harbormaster passed, and lives on some distant island, throwing shit into the ocean. I don’t think that is good for the ocean, but you do you.
I don’t know how this helps the main plot, but I ain't got nothing better to do since I can’t see any whales, I solve her cute little puzzles, this old lady is probably just bored. At some point tho you need some gift that Hilda gave everyone on this island. Altho idk she must not like Katie either because only Andy, Holt and Jenna got a gift.
Because this is a Nancy Drew game, they make you run a bunch of errands before they can let you in on that. Getting your hands on Andy’s is a little tough because you gotta go thru his museum bs, and take his dumb tour to get the complimentary keychain in order to figure out his letters. He also tries to rip me off which just doesn’t sit well with Thug Nan. Thug Nan will remember this.
When you a clammin for Jenna’s task, she gets robbed. Which is like what okay that’s not a boat? U naturally take a gander, and using the information you hustled out of 1-800-askalibrarian and Dr. assistantdirectoroftheNATIONALWOODLIBRARY (wtf), you finddddddd A SECRET TUNNEL.
Down there you find that it connects to a lot of different stores, the lighthouse, and the sea caves. That’s dope I guess, you find some oil down there, which is great cause that means I can use the morse code thing to send Hilda my phone number so she can call me.
Hilda is allegedly not batshit, there’s apparently a method to her madness? Thug Nan: *doubt* She makes you run around solving poems and she’s vague as faq. I got really annoyed at one so I just looked it up. I’m sorry Hilda but also I’m not sorry.
Somehow this begins to tie back to the boat robber thing, so I’m glad we went on her loony scavenger hunt, because we had absolutely no leads. As I get closer to figuring out the culprit, I get the impression that Hilda knows exactly who the culprit is. B I T C H I ain’t got time to be playing scooby doo, these people are literally about to escape. CALL THE POLICE, CALL THE COAST GUARD, why you wasting time messing with a teenager Hilda??
Anyway Thug Nan has to do all the work around here, as per usual. You find a super secret hide out in the sea caves, where you find the Orca, and a bunch of stolen shit. I KNEW IT, IT WAS THE ORCA ALL ALONG. I kid, but it looks like someone has been training the Orca to steal shit from a shipwreck. Convoluted but ok. You find Katie’s gloves and you’re like “bitch u didn’t
You hightail back to Katie’s boat… and it’s gone. What a filthy ho. You go tattle on her to the townspeople, and apparently no one cares. Except Andy, bless his soul.
You sneak onto a suspect boat, and after much a sneaking you find Katie… tied up. Oh shit… and then you also find ANDY U CHEAPO BUTTFACE LIAR. He’s been a smuggling furs from the shipwreck. I don’t know how old this shipwreck is, but would fur really be okay being underwater for so long?
Well Andy, remember when I told u that I would remember? Well u bet ur butt I remember. I KO dis b wit help of my handy dandy orca friend. And Holt shows up after all with the Coast Guard so I guess he’s not that bad.
Katie votes for Holt, and the military trained whale is released into the wild- wait WHAT? Isn’t that the opposite of what you want to do with whales that weren’t raised in the wild???
This is another game I always come back to because I can get through it within a couple of hours. The setting is so fun and it was well executed, a haunted amusement park that didn’t try too hard to be scary. They world wasn’t as big as Ghost Dogs, but it worked really well in my opinion and the characters are some of the more memorable ones in the series. The history they tied into the game was interesting and unique. The puzzles (i.e. the arcade games you have to play to move the plot forward) aren’t too difficult or annoying like some of the later games (looking at you at Trail of the Twister).
Plot (spoilers obviously)
Thug Nan is back at it again with the sleuthin, Paula Santos, is a friend of your fathers and owns an amusement park, how fun! Except there’s a whack ghost carousel that be a haunting. Thug Nan ain’t about that supernatural bs tho, and neither is Paula so we best be investigating.
The carousel isn’t the biggest problem on the table, it’s the rollercoaster that stopped mid-ride and gots the park shut down. Paula is being sued and that’s not cool.
You get straight to work and meet:
Harlan Bishop: It takes a thug to spot a thug, I don’t buy his “I’m just a security” story. Brother has done time. I know it and he knows it. He’s the current park security, extremely eager to help out and extremely Brooklyn, many much Brooklyn. He even took a pay cut to work at the park. He hooked a homie up with a fun pass to the arcade, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have my eye on him.
Joy Trent: My precious Joy, I have clear bias when it comes to this child. She could do no harm. Everyone describes her as boring but I love her. She’s the park’s bookkeeper, she only got the job because her dad, Daryl Trent used to own the park with Paula. He wasn’t the greatest with money however, and died broke af. My wonderful Joy obvs has all kind of childhood trauma but shh es okay, we can work it out together.
Paula: Daryl Trent was p bad with money
Also Paula: *hires his daughter as a bookkeeper*
Ingrid: She’s the chief engineer who hustles essential oils on the side. I don’t understand how a woman of science can buy into the “curse” shizz, but whatever. She reads auras and pawns off all her actual engineer work on me. Can’t say I’m crazy about her. She blames the curse on the person who stole a super vintage horse from the carousel.
Elliot Chen: Homeboy gives a bad name to us artsy types. He’s the park’s art director. He procrastinates a ton and never meets his deadlines, which yes that is me but R O O D of you to assume. The park being shut down is awfully convenient for him.
Tink: He operates the Carousel normally, but rn he’s on vacation in Canada, which you would think would be more suspicious, but no one questions it.
Whilst investigating you discover:
that the person who built the stolen horse (Rolf Kessler) was super famous and his horses are considered priceless or something
during a previous heist from the hotel next to the park, the thieves involved stashed moula all over the park.
the horse that was stolen was a replica, so jokes on whoever stole it.
Rolf Kessler was an artist and by default filled with angst and many much suffering. His waifu died of TB and he disappeared off the grid shortly thereafter.
During all this, you get in touch with Detective Perris, who was the original detective in charge of the hotel heist. It was partially unsolved and he gives you some dirt on one of the peeps that was arrested for the crime. He died in prison, but his cellmate was from brookyln… SUSPICIOUS
Naturally, this means we gotsa snoop on Mr. Bishop. HOME BOY HAS AN APPOINTMENT WITH HIS PAROLE OFFICER, BRUH DID I CALL IT OR WHAT? It’s okay Harlan, Thug Nan has also done time in Alibi in Ashes, cos we ball hard.
More important than this new information, is my girl Joy. We are going on a journey to rediscover her childhood. And I can’t think of a more romantic wholesome way of getting to know each other. We do this with the help of Miles the Magnificent Memory Machine, which is a robot/toaster oven that Joy’s dad built her (I think I forgot to mention that her dad was an ‘inventor’), whose sole purpose is to remember things for Joy, because the passing of her mom was so traumatic that she blocked everything from her childhood behind a wall of extreme blandness.
This. is. Perfect. The fanfiction is writing itself. Thug Nan also lost her mom as a child and now they’re connecting. What was I supposed to be doing again?
Oh right! Our love will have to wait Joy, I gots a mystery to solve.
While you’re helping Joy recover her memories you also learn:
Mr. Bishop has been spying on Ingrid, but this helps you break into Ingrid’s office.
Ingrid is ballin, like more than engineer money balling. It’s also implied that she’s in cahoots with the guy suing the park.
Elliot is buying a lot of wood for no apparent reason, and horse tails, like if he were building a carousel kinda deal. Weird yes?
Anyway Thug Nan is really prioritizing this Joy soul searching project. But then… B E T R A Y A L. Joy confesses to having stopped the rollercoaster that caused the park to shut down. How could she? How could she do this to us? She says she had a lot of pent up resentment after the death of her father and thought Paula didn’t deserve his half of the park. I will be the first to admit that this girl has baggage, but I STILL BELIEVE. We will get thru it.
We still don’t know who is responsible for the ghost carousel. We also accuse Ingrid of being in cahoots with the guy suing the park, and she’s not lying to us but I still don’t like her. Allegedly her monies is coming from her “designing a roller coaster”, likely story.
WHATEVER, I’m gonna finish the epic side quest of figuring out Joy’s backstory and making her love me. I honestly don’t know why we’re still at the park, I think Paula only cared about the roller coaster bit? I’m just saying that a carousel that turns on at night ain’t harming anyone. If anything she’s getting major publicity.
We find out that Joy’s mom bought her a horse off the carousel for her birthday (I feel like that defeats the purpose of the horse but aight), AND SHE DIED THAT SAME DAY. Holy cow that’s harsh. We’re able to track down the location of the horse, which conveniently has the jewels from the hotel heist years ago, and a picture of Joy’s mom. Let’s just say that homie can get it too.
Incidentally, we stumble into Rolf Kessler’s workshop in the midst of this. We totally solved this mystery on accident, cool. But yeah we find the horse that was stolen (yeah, did I forget to mention that it was a different horse, I also had a hard time keeping track of the horses) and discover that someone has been making replicas and selling them on the black market. They’re been using the hype from the “hauntings” to up the value.
The game tries to be sneaky by not dropping names here, but we all know who it be behind this…. Elliot. Naturally, in classic Nancy Drew fashion, he tries to murder(?) us, but we best him and the day is saved by Thug Nan, once again. Joy call me.
Fortunately Her Interactive was able to redeem themselves in my eyes after Secret of the Scarlet Hand. Toning down the book trivia heavy plot, but still presenting history in an engaging and interesting way. They also expanded the world they built for this game compared to the previous games by having bigger map. I might be slightly biased because of the ties to the mob and mob culture. Like Message in a Haunted Mansion, it tried to be spooky, but just enough that it wasn’t annoying. I’ve also played this one like 5 times and have never run into any sort of glitches. The story/plot was easy to flow through despite the expanded universe. This had less character involvement and it strangely worked for it. The chores were tedious but not as bad as Secret of the Scarlet Hand, and they created a more linear storyline.
Plot (spoilers obviously):
Thug Nan is visiting her friend um.. Sarah? I honestly don’t remember and I was playing this last night. I’m going to call her Scaredy McScaredy pants. Because by the time you get there b i t c h is G O N E. Some ghost dogs apparently scared her off, what a wuss.
After you arrive, a tree falls behind your car, so you’re technically “stuck” until you can find someone to remove the tree. Which is fine, you’re not a coward, but boy is this house falling apart. I can’t imagine why anyone would make such a poor investment. But okay I guess the same could be said about the mansion in Message in a Haunted Mansion.
When you call McScaredy she tells you that while you’re stuck there, you should do her chores for her, which is bullshit. Whatever Thug Nan wants to get a load of these “ghost dogs” that sound like a bunch of baloney.
Whatever, shortly after that phone call the house is “attacked” by “ghost dogs”, I’m sorry but I’m a skeptic. Even if I saw their glowing eyes with my own two non-glowing eyes, I will get to the bottom of this.
You immediately run into Red Knott, who is obvs your first suspect. He watches birds but only at night?(tempted to spongebob meme) And he hates everyone. If it were up to him the park would be axed and he would live among the birds as one of their own. Very suspicious, but we’ve got other suspects to meet.
He tells you to bug off and then morning you try to get on McScaredy pant’s boat only to find out that you need to borrow a spark plug from that same dood that told you to bug off. G R E A T. But because this is a Nancy Drew game, we already know that it’s going to come with a catch.
Red “Ivan Vanko” Knott wants pictures of birds. And even tho he’s perfectly fine doing this during the night, I gotta wait till the morning to do this, peachy.
In the morning I can boat places so I go meet:
Emily: Lady who runs Em’s Emporium, her store is filled with things that she stole found in the lake. She’s convinced there’s treasure in there, and hates that the lake is on park land because that means that she can’t be hustling.
Jeff Ackers: Park Ranger, that wants to make the park BIGGER, something something about being power hungry. He’s kind of a goody two shoes. He doesn’t like that your friend’s property was sold to her because that means he can’t be promoted or something.
RIGHT, I forgot to mention that the property used to be owned by Post Malone’s grandpa (tru fact), Mickey Malone, a tru american gangster who got convicted for tax evasion (remind u of anyone?). He had four dogs that he loved, and it’s allegedly them who are haunting the property.
Looking for the birds, you find his grave, and the grave of his 4 doggos. But for some reason two of the birdos hate you, and after talking to Ivan Vanko, he tells you that you gotta get some of that camo and be a nerd. Thug Nan only does it for the sake of the ghost doggos.
Except the bank of Thug Nan is running kinda low, you don’t actually have money. Emily makes you go bug hunting to pay for the camo. When you are finally able to snap a picture of the last bird, you discover that someone installed speakers on the house? Suspicious. But unfortunately you get knocked the eff out before you can investigate
When you wake up, someone has tied you up in the shed and SET U ON FIRE. W T F. I literally have zero leads but okay sure. When you look for the speakers, they’re gone, so we’re back to square one.
The convoluted puzzle in the living room finds you a super secret passageway into the basement. There’s nothing much down there except rats and a journal that reveals that Jeff Acker’s great great grandaddy was best friends forever with Mickey Malone.
When you confront him, he’s like what? Naa I ain’t got ties to the mob that would go against my goody two shoes vibe I’m trying to instill. Which reminds me, this b i t c h ticketed ME when I almost died, something about a fire hazard. Eventually he fesses up, and admits that his g-pa was in cahoots with Mickey Malone. Which is great because you need to get in contact with MM’s ex gf.
MM’s ex gf tells you about the speakeasy in Malone’s basement and how to get into it. You trade the picture you found of her for the key. You go a lurking… and find the said speakeasy, it’s smaller than we expected but I bet Malone gets that a lot (joking, don’t kill me).
After pulling a bunch of levers, you find another secret passage, all these puzzles are dog related and ngl I’m not hating it. MM’s ex gf hated these pouches, but shiiii girl I’ll take them all. You solve more dog puzzles and you find the doggos, you best know that Thug Nan gonna take every single one of these home with her. You find magic dog toothpaste that glows in the dark (they never explain the glowing eyes????)
Thug Nan is gonna unleash hell on whoever is keeping these precious babies in such a sketch place. You discover their journal, and it sounds like they’re looking for treasure. Which only Jeff and Em know about… Who are the only two real suspects let's be real.
One you’re in the vault, you find the gold, the moula, i soldi, el dinero, if you catch my drift. That’s when Em shows up all like “homie das MY gold” and is about to yeet Thug Nan down a ladder if you don’t get out of there. Fortunately you manage to trap her in there till the po-po can take care of her.
Once again the day is saved, thanks to Thug Nan legit carrying the entire investigation.
I think Jeff is promoted, and Sarah Scardy Pants gets to keep the doggos. THE END.
I’ve only played this one once and I honestly can’t remember parts of it or the plot. I love that this was the first appearance of Soony Joon, but other than that all the characters fell flat for me. This one took the educational aspects of Treasure in a Royal Tower and multiplied them by 100, in a bad way. This game played more like a Broderbund game, the puzzles were obnoxious and the play through was erratic (not as linear as its predecessors). Some of the chores involved bouncing back and forth a bunch (like the quizzes). I don’t remember there being any glitches though.
Plot (spoilers obviously)
Thug Nan gets an internship at Beech Hill, a museum hosting a super big exhibit on the Maya. From the get go you get the impression that maybe this museum can’t afford to do this? Thug Nan is like “wait a minute this internship is paid right?”
They hand you a list of chores and tell you to get on it. They’re preparing for the exhibition of a giant rock monolith. While doing these chores you meet:
Joanna: Your boss as the museum’s curator. She appears a little young to be running the place and slightly desperate to get income into the museum. Low key she cute tho.
Henrik Vander Hoop: He’s fancy and has an accent. He’s a researcher and knows things about glyphs. Not v social for the most part.
Ale-ale-jandro: I don’t think I was supposed to like this guy tbh, judging from the responses Nancy had for some of his SJW rants, but yo he’s not wrong. I might be biased as we are basically the same person tho. He works with the consulate and appears to have a close relationship with the museum. He hates Johana and Taylor because they’re pirates.
Taylor Sinclair: I thought he was a lawyer for some reason? He’s an art dealer, and tbh I’m suspicious of him immediately. I think it’s the mustache. Idk what it is about it but I don’t like it. He calls you into his office because he’s concerned that someone is gonna steal from Beech Hill, which heightens my suspicion of him but whatever.
As we continue to do errands, we get more of a feel for the museum’s financial situation. When you try to order supplies, the distributor tells you that he sent you to collections and to gtfo.
The next morning, you’re in your office when the alarm goes off, someone has stolen a jade relic of King Pacal’s. The cops come and go, you ask Joanna about it and she gives you the a-ok to snoop up in there. She appears to care more about collecting that insurance monies. Suspicious but ok.
Henrik is apparently also nowhere to be seen? Suspicious but ok.
Alejandro and Taylor subtly mention that they were both in the building at the time of the robbery. Idk why either of them would incriminate themselves like that? Suspicious but ok.
You get a call from Franklin Rose, your dad’s friend that hooked you up with the internship. He’s like legally speaking I need u to investigate this. So Thug Nan is like “aw yee, I’ma do it because you told me to, and not because suspicious Taylor told me to.”
The robbers left a calling card, because you know, all the smart robbers do that right? Also idk how the cops dropped the ball on this one because the culprit’s calling card is A HAND PRINT. I’da been running the show I would just hand printed everyone in the building, and called it a day.
So you gotta do some more tedious chores, which you only are able to pull of because the wack who had your internship before you left a bunch of drawings as hints. Soony Joon, I’ma tell u now that I think you’re a mad lad, but also thank you for ur service.
You get in contact with some other folks that were also struck by the thieves who hit Beech Hill. They send you some more clues.
THEN HENRIK IS YEETED DOWN THE STAIRS (seriously, what is the deal with this series and stair yeeting?) I’m going to say now that the stairs that Henrik fell down were a lot taller than those of El Paso High School, I’m just saying, idk how Henrik didn’t die but ok.
Homeboy has amnesia. Johana was booted out of the building for mismanaging the museum and being overall suspicious. You and I know what this means right? Time to trespass go thru everyone’s shit.
Johana was not happy about being booted out, and begs you to prove that she didn’t steal the pacal relic so the cops will let her go and the board will let her back into the building. I don’t really want to do that but I guess.
I made zero effort to talk Franklin into letting her back in whoops 8D. But she can’t say I didn’t call him.
Meanwhile Henrik’s nurse/therapist hits you up like “yo he kept saying ur name in his sleep so we think it’s a good idea for you to visit. You can help him get his memory back” Yeah? Well remember that I said that he wasn’t v social? I legit know NOTHING about him, especially since his desk is all locked up. Idk why he was saying my name in his delirium but I hope that he knows that I am completely loyal to Frank Hardy Ned, and if I were to cheat on him it woulda been with my sweet Maddie in Stay Tuned for Danger. I guess I don’t blame Henrik tho, erryone wants a piece of this Thug Nan. What can I say? I live dangerously. (Altho for once I haven’t been attempted murdered)
While trying to jog Henrik’s memory you find out:
Henrik probably maybe stole the Pacal, but it sounds like he had Taylor logic. He stole it so the real thieves wouldn’t steal it?
He’s in cahoots with smugglers
Alejandro called the cops on Johana, and needs Thug Nan to “borrow” some papers from her. I don’t like the way he went about it but I respect the balls on this man.
You gotta find like 5 other relics to open the dumb monolith… great. I still don't know why would want to?
Pacal (the real dood not the relic) built the monolith to suffocate a scribe/reporter that was too nosy for her own good. My dood was harsh.
Thug Nan finds the Pacal because well… she had to. And slowly but surely it begins to come together. Tbh the plot to this game was so convoluted, that I wouldn’t have figured out what I had to do without calling Frank and Joe every other second.
Somehow I gather all the relics I needed to open the damn box, and you know I’m starting to think. If this Pacal guy didn’t want this scribe lady to ever be found why the eff would he make a key to the tomb in the first place? Whatever. I open the box and T A Y L O R S I N C L A I R LOCKS ME IN THERE WITH A THOUSAND YEAR OLD ROTTING CORPSE. THIS MAN IS ABOUT TO FEEL THE WRATH OF THUG NAN.
Anyway, getting out of there was not that hard, my girl the scribe shoulda made more of an effort, but hey she didn’t have a handy dandy glowstick like moi. When I got out Johana, Alejandro, and a recovered Henry were on the other side waiting? Instead of helping me? They were v creepily like “YOU DID IT NANCY WE KNEW YOU WOULD.” Except they used Dr. Seuss rhymes to tell me this which only made it creepier. Also they knew it was Sinclair without me telling them? Which is like cool but WhY DiDnT U StOp hIm. They play it off as “well he stole the fake stuff” THEY LITERALLY HAD NO WAY OF KNOWING THAT.
Um, the end?
They left a couple of plot holes unresolved I think? Like Henrik having connections with smugglers. Why did he steal the pacal in the first place? What did he know about Taylor? Who pushed him off the pyramid? Or did he really fall? Alejandro seemed to be peachy with Beech Hill after he found out that the Pacal’s papers were legit? And Johana never asked me about the missing papers, she was also let off with a warning? Okie dokes.
Every now and then I’ll come back to this one because it is one of the shorter ones. The story line is straightforward, and there aren’t too many obnoxious puzzles. I don’t know if it’s because we’re brought back to the stage, I get some Stay Tuned for Danger vibes. It’s s little gitchy, but I’ve only been stuck (i.e. forgot to pick up something I needed later) once in the 4 times I’ve played it. The characters aren’t as memorable, but I enjoyed the setting and the idea of being trapped in a building for 3 days. This game is successful in regards to weaving the history of Henry Houdini into the plot without it getting too preachy.
Plot (spoilers obviously):
Nancy is invited to a movie premiere screening by her friend Maya, who is working on an article for her university and was able to get early access. When she goes into the interview room however, she is kidnapped through a secret passage.
Thug Nan snaps into action and breaks that door down, unfortunately we are too late. Not too late to answer a threatening phone call from the perpetrator. B i t c h don’t test me. The theater they’re at is scheduled to be demolished in 3 days and the culprit is just not havin it. He wants Thug Nan to stop it, or else Maya is about to be demolished too.
No one tells Thug Nan what to do, so we go hustle everyone in the building:
Brady Armstrong: Whoopy, another Rick Arlen type, but slightly smarter? Brady’s dressing room is where Maya disappeared, he is the star of the movie so she was going to interview him. He was not in the dressing room at the time of her disappearance, allegedly.
Simone: If I remember my last play through correctly, she’s not the culprit but boy do I dislike her. She’s Brady’s manager, and needs more of an attitude check than he does. She’s good and ready to exploit the hell out of the kidnapping scandal.
(Nicholas) Falcone: Idk how this guy got in here, but he’s organizing a protest to protect the building. Makes one think that we should be keeping an eye on him, but tbh I don’t think he has the brain power for it. He’s one of my favorite characters regardless. #FightThePower
Joseph: Joe here runs the theater and shows zero concern for my friend’s safety, but appears to be the only one willing to try looking for her.
Yeah for some reason no one here g i v e s a s h i t about your kidnapped friend. You call the police and even they’re like “homes we can’t do anything for 24 hours.” Which is a lie btw, if you ever find yourself in a situation where someone goes missing, please call the police as soon as possible.
Thug Nan has to do everything herself, it’s fine we got this. Falcone is cool even tho everyone seems to hate him? Tbh he helps me the most, cause turns out his granny got jipped by the original owner of the theater, JJ Thompson. How ya gonna do my girl dirty like that Thompson? Thug Nan is going to have to set things straight.
After funking around with Houdini’s old magic “tricks”, we find the room where Maya is being kept it. Unfortunately, not only can we not reach her, someone traps us before we can do anything about it. Joseph helps us out, but by the time we get into the room, she’s gone.
Also someone tries to electrocute us? Which is taking it a lil too far, but as we soon find out this perpetrator is a little unhinged.
Meanwhile, Brady’s manager has a press conference, and you know what that means? I’m about to go thru people shit. We find out that:
Joseph doesn’t have a back up plan if the theater plans fall thru, his original plan involved moving to a small town with his brother to open a new theater, but turns out his brother is dead :C Smoking is bad kids.
Simone ordered the creepy AF funeral wreath someone delivered to the theater that morning.
Brady needs help apparently because he thinks he’s being held hostage by his manager. Is it horrible that I’m having a hard time feeling bad for this guy?
We find out that Falcone’s granny wasn’t the only one Thompson ripped off, he tried ripping of Henry Houdini himself. He ended up having to sell off part of his theater, so technically, the current owner, B Thompson, doesn’t have the authority to bulldoze it down.
Thug Nan gets in contact with Houdini’s decedent, who also doesn’t give two shits about the theater or our problems. But she puts us in contact with the Library of Congress to see if we can find something that can help us.
On the third day, Thug Nan discovers that Brady is actually B Thompson. He thinks theaters are lame and is knocking it down to make some sort of ego-inflating museum(?). Thug Nan tries to talk him into delaying the demolition until they find Maya, but Brady is like “Nah, ThAt sOuNdS LiKE a PoOr PeOpLeS PrObLeM.” Fortunately, Falcone tells us that there’s a package from the Library of Congress for us.
When we get to the projection room to use the projector to see the contents of the package (idk why son couldn’t send a paper copy but ok), the construction crew announces the ‘all clear’. We need to gtfo out there and pronto, but not without our gal Maya. The file from the Library of Congress implies that Falcone’s grandma owned a part of the theater. We also find a set of blueprints that show a secret passageway out of the projection room.
It’s awfully convenient because Joseph shows up to lock us in there. There is no talking sense into him, he doesn’t appear to be all there, like bitch we’re all gonna die, they already announced the all clear. What’s the point of holding Maya hostage if they don’t know if she's in here??
In the secret passage, we find Maya, but there’s no time to get her out, we about to go down. We got to find a way of signaling that we’re in here still. Joseph CONTINUES TO NOT GET IT. He tries to stop me, which would kill all of us? I thought he wanted to stop the demolition? Which is what I’m trying to do? B I T C H WE’RE ON THE SAME PAGE! We may or may not blind him in self defense, but we manage to turn on the sign outside and stop the demolition.
Turns out, Joseph's original plan was to kidnap Brady, but when Maya showed up in his dressing room unexpectedly, he defaulted to her. I just think it’s cute that he thought he could take on a physically fit adult male as a skinny af old man, but okay.
Falcone and Brady become the bestest of friends and restore the theatre. THE END.
I have this one still and I would rather pirate any other game in the series. The story is interesting but the puzzles and erraticness of gameplay drives me crazy. I’m pretty sure I’ve only played this one once, because the second time I tried to play it, I ran into one of those pesky glitches, and I didn’t care enough to go back and try again. I also don’t know if I’m the only person on this planet to find Professor Hotchkiss annoying af, if I didn’t need her help in the later games I would have totally stabbed her. This was the second game to try to weave history into the game, and it did it decently, I was just a little confused as to why they had to redeem Marie Antoinette’s character? It felt like they were making up their own alternate history as opposed to Message in a Haunted Mansion, where they used a fictional character to tell their story.
UPDATE: The glitches really took away from a solid game. Upon further evaluation I am giving it a better rating. It deserves a higher rating thank Secrets Can Kill for sure.
Plot (spoilers obviously)
Finally after 3 attempted murders Thug Nan is cashing in on a well deserved vay-cay. Of course just because Thug Nan is on vacation doesn’t mean attempted murder took a vacation. Except no one was attempted murdered yet. Yet being the key word here.
Upon arrival we get snowed in immediately. We mull around this castle, eventually learning that someone broke into the library and vandalized it. Do I smell a mysteryyy?? You sure bet I do!
Your radiator tho, sounds like its about to explode so Thug Nan finds the guy managing the place and is like “u best fix my radiator”. This guy is no nonsense however, and is like “u best help me with these chores how bout da?” You get on those chores and on the way you meet:
Dexter: The manager, he’s angry all the time, but I totally kissed his ass to get on his good side. I’m sure this will work out in my favor later.
“Lisa”: Idr the culprit from my first play through of this game, but I don’t get good vibes from this girl at all. She’s a photographer allegedly. She is the first to spill the tea about the robbery.
Jaques: *cue all French man stereotypes* I like Jaques, he seems like someone who could hang. He has a sad boi backstory where he bombed at the olympics and is on a path to redemption by the woman he loves. Could be a green card marriage, but yo this is the best episode of 90 day fiance. I think he works in the castle?
Professor Hotchkiss: She wouldn’t annoy me so much if she would remember my name right. That’s mad disrespect yo. She’s a nerd, but so nerd that she doesn’t even have the respect of her peers cause she a lil wack. She’s writing a book I think.
While Dexter is using Thug Nan for free labor, you get trapped in an elevator. Like wtf I haven’t done anything to piss off anyone yet. I’m only the errand girl. But by doing this the person unintentionally gave me access to the library so jokes on them! You discover that Dexter is looking for something in the library… suspicious.
Upon further trespassing investigating, we learn that:
Marie Antoinette may have been in the super duper secret tower that’s attached to the resort
Dexter’s dad owned the resort
Dexter’s dad was also a chocolate milk tycoon
Dexter was a webel, a real thug, my man even did time, so I better recognize. But his dad did disown him.
“Lisa”? More like “Lie-sa”! This girl isn’t who she says she is, she has a bunch of fake passports and identities.
Hotchkiss is batshit
You find your way into the super dooper secret tower and find… Jaques! How could u? He’s trying to saw his way into the tower like a suspect. He assures you that he’s only trying to finish what his grandpa asked him to do on his deathbed. Take a medallion and open some super dooper secret journal that may or may not be in a super dooper secret tower.
I like Jaques, so I give him the benefit of the doubt. MISTAKE. I go get the medallion from his locker and BAM, Thug Nan is knocked out cold. Idk what hurt more, the blow to the head, or the betrayal.
When you come to, Jaques is convinced you stole the medallion. Okay so maybe he didn’t knock you out then. Unless its another ruse? Dexter congratulates you for finding the tower, and tells you a touching story about his dad taking him up to the tower when he was a kid. He’s like you should check it out, and I’m like holmes, I am ON it.
I find a journal, but home girl failed the first semester of French so we gotta get someone to translate it. We drop it off with the batshit lady, and head out to find some medallions. We find one stashed in Dexter’s dad’s super secret garden.
Next, Liesa gives us a “tip” about seeing Dexter take something to the shed. Out there we find another medallion, none of these medallions are the one that was stolen from Jaques’s locker. While you’re out there however, some b i t c h locks you outta the castle. Thug Nan is gonna freeze to death if we don’t figure out a plan. You turn on the ski lift as an SOS, and Dexter opens the door for you.
When you pick up your translated journal from Hotchkiss’s room you find… Jaques’s medallion! Thug Nan isn’t about to admit that she might have been KO’d by this punk granny, so she confronts her, and she says that some “maid” put that there… my peter tingle tells me this is probably Liesa…
With all three medallions in hand, I make my way to the tower again. Where I find a shiny diamond, which realistically, has no monetary value but something something about society and culture.
Liesa has the audacity to show up, she’s a “jewel thief” by her own admission, and all I can say is, gurl this isn’t the old country, get a real job. This asshat pepper sprays me. But jokes on her because if I learned anything from Secrets Can Kill is how to yeet people down a flight of stairs. No one messes with Thug Nan.
Thug Nan was born from my love for these games, and a rough childhood in the “hood”. Basically to add to the disclaimer, as critical as these “reviews” may seem, I promise these are all in good fun.
I’ve played all the games at least twice, but there are some that I cannot remember for the life of me. So I will be replaying all of them as I review. I’m starting from Secrets Can Kill (I’ll be playing them in the original release order, so I’ll get to the remastered one eventually), so it might take me a hot minute to get through them all.
I will also be playing in junior mode just for the sake of time. I figure that it will jog my memory of my original play through.
Opinion is subjective :)
I know for a fact (thanks to r/nancydrew) that some one my favorites are not exactly everyone else’s favorites. And some of other’s favorites (looking at you Shadow Ranch), are not exactly my favorites. That being said, I am not exaggerating when I say that I love all the games, even the bad ones. The criticisms are theatrical, please don’t read too much into them.
Second one I ever finished (it came bundled with STFD). This story was supposed to be “spooky”, and it tried just enough that I found it charming, instead of off putting like some of the later ones that tried too hard imo. While it was not as linear storywise compared to Stay Tuned for Danger, it was less glitchy. The puzzles we harder but not silly, or time consuming. The characters were some of the best in the whole series. It’s also on the shorter side, I can usually run through it in one sitting. I liked the hidden wordplay in this one because it was actually relevant to the puzzles.
Plot (spoilers obviously):
Thug Nan is back at it again when her housekeeper sends her to San Fran to figure out why this spooky ass house is having accidents left and right. When you wake up in her cultural appropriation room you’re allowed to wander aimlessly through the mansion until you find:
Rose Green: Owner who put her entire life savings into the house, in hopes of turning it into a bed and breakfast. The TL;DR is that your technically there to get to the bottom of things, but also you have chores to do, so get on it.
While you do those chores you also meet:
Amy? Abby? Hippy girl: This girl is like the ‘aliens’ meme guy, except with ghosts. Renovations gone awry? Ghosts. Your lasagna is too cold? Ghosts. Didn’t do your taxes? Ghosts. I bet if I talk to her long enough she’ll try to sell me her essential oils or something.
Charlie: For some reason I remember trying to hit on him as a kid, but he was not having it. He’s the scapegoat for all these accidents apparently, but he swears that he knows how to do his job. Oh according to wikia, he was chosen as the official Ned VA after this game. So apparently I wasn’t the only one who thought he was dweamy.
Louis Chandler: I always want to call him a lawyer but he’s not. He’s an antiques dealer who’s giving Rose and Abby advise on the renovations because he’s an expert on the victorian era.
Snooping around you quickly discover that this mansion may or may not have belonged to an infamous bandit by the name of Diego Valdez, or his lady lover?
Charlie wrote an essay on the guy so that’s suspicious, he’s also sleeping in the basement??? I don’t remember ever being able to confront him about it either.
Rose put a million dollar fire insurance policy on the house. She implies that it might be worth more burnt down. Okay Rose…
Chandler is straight up stealing shit and selling it in what appears the black market?
Abby is trying to get publicity for the B&B by staging all this ghost shit. Her and Rose get into an argument over it.
I’ll admit this is the first game where I was genuinely confused by who the culprit was.
A fire breaks out, thankfully Thug Nan also doubles as a firefighter. The fire ain’t got nothing on Thug Nan. Naturally I’m suspicious of Rose, but I’ll give this homie the benefit of the doubt.
Abby decides to have a seance though, because of course. We learn nothing other that she’s a big o’ fakio.
Finally gum bo fu, triggers the ending sequence. Something something about golden treasure mansion. So obvs their some munnies to be found up in here. And turns out that the tapestry in Nancy’s room was the walkthrough all along.
You find out that Diego actually married his lady love and that she left everything in the house to him, and if he was dead, the ladies protection society or something like that. When you finally use the power of rainbows to find the gold, Louis busts outta nowhere like “Bitch better have my money.”
Fortunately, Thug Nan almost dropped a chandelier on her head earlier in the game, so she knows what to do. You drop that chandelier on Chandler (omg the name thing again), and the day is saved. Turns out he had been trying to hustle Rose and Abby out of all that gold.
In the end, Rose and Abby aren’t allowed to keep the gold, but they def benefit from that haunted mansion clout, cause their B&B is lit.
First one I ever actually beat, this game had the right amount of puzzles and was more linear and straightforward compared to its predecessor. The graphics aged decently, but some of the glitches didn’t. It’s easy to get stuck places if you didn’t pick up certain things earlier in the game. The story is one of the more interesting, and least ridiculous in my opinion. Little details were put in, and most were relevant to the plot. The characters I found very memorable. And I liked the option of being able to accuse any of the main players. Chores got a 6 because the audio mixer thing really should tell you when you’ve triggered breaking into the agent’s office.
Plot (spoilers obviously):
Dear ol’ Aunt Eloise must low-key be hoping I get murdered because she sends me into danger again. Rick Arlen is a dweamy soap opera star who is getting death threats. He’s kind of a dick, so I mean not surprised, but his ex-gf and co-star is worried about him so Thug Nan is here to save the day.
We meet the sweetest, purest, most precious character in the entire series (plz bring her back), Mattie Jensen at her bougie apartment in New York. And I’m telling you now, that if anyone who’s ever played this game thought for one second that this beautiful child did anything wrong in her life, then yalls need to gtfo.
She tells you about how Rick has been getting scary letters, and dead flowers, and poisoned chocolates, but isn’t taking it seriously. She also invites you to watch a taping of the show later.
When you get to WWB (the studio), you notice that all the magazines in the waiting area have the letters cut out. I’m skeptical that the person who’s been sending the letters sat in the waiting room cutting out all the letters. I’m also skeptical that they went through the trouble of stealing them, cutting the letters, and bringing them back. You’re telling me a multi million company like WWB can’t afford to replace a couple of magazines every now and then. Okay, I’m thinking too much about this magazine thing.
We enter the taping and of course because we’re here a giant light rig falls from the sky and nearly kills Rick. He goes full Karen (rightfully so, but also u shoulda been taking those warnings seriously), and says he's gonna complain to his agent before storming off stage. We investigate and meet all the suspects:
Mattie is technically a suspect cause she’s an ex but we’re gonna ignore that.
Prop Lady: She does not hide her hatred of Rick at all, but I like her batshit shenanigans. I think her name is Mildred, and is apparently the heir to the WWB fortune. She may not be capable of murder, but she can afford to hire someone to murder on her behalf, just sayin.
Lilian a.k.a. The Director: Rick has apparently hit it and quit it with all the females in the building, and boy is Lillian salty about it. She hates everyone, especially me, she throws me out of the studio immediately. Jokes on her because no one can get rid of Thug Nan that easily.
Mattie is able to talk to her agent about getting me a job on set as an extra. We meet our fourth third suspect:
Dwayne Powers: Dwayne is my favorite character in the whole series probably because he’s the worst, and not in a good way. He’s Mattie’s agent, but he hates Rick cause he used to be his agent too before Rick upgraded to Bill Pappas.
Bill Pappas is in this game too, but you never really meet him. In the same way you never met the Janitor in Secrets Can Kill… suspicious. Although I don’t know what you would want to kill your own talent.
Sleuthing around (and getting hit on by Rick non-stop) you discover that the light was sabotaged and that everyone technically has a motive to want to kill the guy. Someone tries to MURDER him again, by putting a bomb in his dressing room that Thug Nan finds and disarms because apparently she’s been trained in this?
ALSO the order to cut the wires in is found in Mattie’s dressing room, determined by highlighter and juice stains. It wasn’t hard to figure out, but it was very flash escape room-y. But my girl would NEVER, so idk what was up with that.
So after disarming the bomb, we’re able to break into the studio...
at niiiight.
Going through everyone’s shit and breaking all kinds of trespassing laws, we learn that:
Lillian probs sent Rick the nasty chocolate and she has serious anger management issues. She’s also trying to get his ass fired.
Someone be running around by the name of Owen W Spader, and sabotaging all kinds of shit. He’s represented by Dwayne also.
The tape used in the bomb tape recorder was probably recorded somewhere in New York. Idk why we had to do this part but whatever.
So we go to Dwayne’s Office at niiightt. We break in using a card like we have most of the game, and low key I’m salt that this doesn’t work in all the games. In the office we look up Owen’s file, and there is no picture. We snoop through Dwayne’s shit, and learn that my sweet Mattie loaned this fool 5k. There’s also a bunch of bills and eviction notices everywhere, along with a ticket to Rio. This is not looking good for dear old Dwayne.
You go home and now there’s a threat for you. Oh shit you’ve pissed someone off. Yikes. In the morning, you ask everyone if they’ve met Owen. Mattie’s like Owen? Who is she? Rick pretends to know him and proceeds to hit on Thug Nan, I mean she did save his life or whatever. Mildred doesn’t know him either but boy does he borrow shit from the prop room. Lillian yells at you about how no one cares and tells you to go die in a ditch.
So you go home again, only to have Lilian booty call your ass back to the studio…. At niiight. When you get there she’s like I got a death threat too, but who could be behind this. And Thug Nan is like “Here Lillian, let me Tom Riddle Owen W Spayder’s name for you, ohh would you look at that? DWAYNE POWERS HAS THE EXACT SAME LETTERS IN HIS NAME. I can’t believe you needed a teenager to tell you that but you’re welcome.”
Dwayne obviously read Chamber of Secrets, cause he decides to show up and give his evil monologue all dramatically. He mentions that he only planned to murder Lillian (y tho? I hate her too, but she’s not the smartest person around, she literally would have never figured out that it was Dwayne, but okay). Since Nancy’s nosy ass was there however, she gonna get murdered by default.
Lillian just stands there for some reason, even tho it’s one vs. two and I’m sure if we tag teamed this we could take him. Thug Nan carries this entire team and saves the day by opening the door and letting security tackle Dwayne. She did all the work for them, but allegedly they were on to him. Sure you were Randy.
This game plays more like a flash escape game, and I don’t mind that, it's just not your typical ND game. Less puzzle driven and more looking at books driven. Some of the hidden word play seem like red herrings instead of anything useful, if you don’t let that distract you you can get through the game pretty quickly. This is a lot darker than the rest of the games, I mean most of them have murder obviously, but Nancy almost kills a bitch with A GUN son. Nancy a THUG. Some of the stuff isn’t as straightforward. If Ned hadn’t told me to use the box cutter on the window I would have never gotten into the teacher’s lounge.
Plot (spoilers obviously):
First of all, I gotta say COLLEGE IS A SCAM. These teens are getting involved in sketchy af shit in order to go to college. I’m just saying bro, selling drugs is gonna make u more money than an actual degree. You already took the risk of stealing the shit once, might as well keep going 8D (joking mostly)
The story starts with a kid named Jake. Jake is a kid at El Paso High School who straight up got yeeted down a flight of stairs. I’m going to tell you now that I was all up in this school’s business and I did not see a flight of stairs that was tall enough to kill anyone but okay sure.
Naturally when a death murder occurs at a school, the first thing you think about is transferring your niece to said school and to ask her to shove her nose in everyone’s personal life. This is where homie girl Thug Nan comes in.
When you get to El Paso, you meet 3 of the loveliest people (seriously why are they so agro?). They go from “Hi you’re new, let me show you around.” to “LEAVE ME ALONE.” in less than 3 pieces of dialogue.
Connie: This Judo gal who be crushing on Daryl is sketchy from the first conversation. But at least she doesn’t pretend to like me, and I can respect that.
Hal: Your stereotypical asian foreign exchange student with zero personality. He gotta study or his ass gonna be deported. Doesn’t have time for friendships.
Hank: Hal and Hank were confusing for me to keep track of. This guy was your stereotypical jock football player dood. Roid rage.
“Allegedly” none of these people know Jake, but quickly enough we learn that everyone in this school is a friggin liar. But first we gotta go to Maxine’s Diner to meet our 4th suspect.
Daryl: This perfect class president, son of a politician, hometown boy, ruse does not fool me. This boy is my no. 1 suspect, he’s very eager to help, and honestly his smile just creeps me out.
After getting the tea from everyone and breaking into Jake’s locker (I wouldn’t have figured that out without Ned ngl) you discover:
Connie was apparently being hustled by Jake because home girl went all Mulan in a Judo competition to get money for college (okay i can’t hate that). EXCEPT you also learn that Connie was also dating Jake (b i t c h i don’t know him my ass).
Hal copied a book word for word instead of writing an essay himself. Jake discovered this and was blackmailing this boy too. Smh Hal, you coulda at least changed some of the words.
Compared to the other two, Hank is hardcore, he straight up stole steroids from a pharmaceutical lab. His reason for this is that he needed to play good for scouts, something something about college. Jake be hustlin him too, but tbh Hank u had it coming.
Daryl’s fam is basically in financial ruin, he be running mysterious “packages” to shady af people for money. Oh I guess his fam owns the pharmaceutical lab Hank stole from or something. It’s not entirely made clear but that’s the impression I got.
Anyway, Jake was blackmailing Daryl, and when he wasn’t paying up, he moved on to the dude Daryl was delivering packages for, who straight up MURDERED him. Idk why Daryl didn’t go to the police, but maybe he was scared of being yeeted down a flight of stairs too.
OH! And then I think this same guy happens to be the school janitor? Which makes sense because why else would a fully grown adult male be able to lurk around a school without drawing suspicion. That, and someone traps Nancy in the boiler room in an attempt to BLOW HER UP, I can only assume that it was someone with access to the room.
Daryl tho, mans the faq up, and is like “instead of going to the police with this info, lets go ask the janitor politely if/why he killed Jake?” I didn’t understand his logic, but I sure thought it was cute that he left a note on the diner that said ‘BRB GONNA GO CONFRONT A MURDER WILL BE BACK IN 10 MIN IF I DON’T DIE’.
Instead of you know, calling the police, Nancy decides to endanger the life of others by trying to get the other high schoolers to team up and confront Jake’s killer. At this point, Hal and Hank are both dead to me, because only Connie shows up and kicks all kinds of ass. Hal I hope you fail out of Medical school, and Hank I hope u peak in high school, sincerely, me. Nancy ends up with the janitor’s gun (he has a name but idc enough to remember), but is too much of a wuss to use it. Way to let everyone down Thug Nan.
I guess Daryl and Connie bonded over being extorted cause they get into a car and drive off into the sunset, THE END.
