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Nancy Drew: Mystery of the Seven Keys is a mystery game in which you investigate a gem theft in Czechia. You play as the titular character, Nancy Drew, in the 34th installment of a franchise that stretches all the way back to 1998. The games have changed a lot over the years but have always retained the same core mechanics: they are point-and-click adventure games built around investigating a crime, questioning suspects, and solving puzzles.

I was looking forward to trying to figure out the mystery before it was revealed, which is always a highlight for me with this type of game. This one doesn’t have a unique premise—a jewel theft isn’t the most creative crime in the world—but that’s okay as long as the writers put in some effort to keep it fresh and interesting.

Prague is a solid setting, even if it is a bit “normal” by video game standards. The history of the city is highlighted by the narrative, weaving it into the real world of Czechia. This is counteracted by the goofiness of the story, which can make it hard to take seriously at times. All that being said, it’s still the most enjoyable part of the game by a fair margin.

Initially, the plot kept my attention quite well. Without bringing up spoilers, there are enough twists to keep you engaged. Having said that, it loses steam near the end and starts to feel like the developers are dragging it out to pad the game’s length. The narrative barely advances in the last third, which is especially disappointing given how fun it had been for the first 10 hours. This is more of an issue with gameplay pacing, but it still negatively affects the story too.

Most Nancy Drew fans probably come for either the story or the puzzles. Unfortunately, much like the storyline, the puzzles start strong but steadily worsen as you play. The most frustrating issue is that many puzzles aren’t particularly hard, just poorly explained. I often struggled to understand what they were asking for, but then solved it almost immediately once figuring out the rules. It’s a weird dynamic where the “eureka” moments are rare and short-lived, when those are usually the building blocks of a good puzzle game. This certainly doesn’t describe every puzzle, but it’s more common than not. I found myself wishing for fewer puzzles and more of the narrative. This is especially true in the last third of the game, which devolves into endless puzzles separated by a line or two of dialogue.

To compound the issues with puzzle design, there’s also a significant lack of polish. There are minor things, like re-using NPC models in the same room, that are noticeable but don’t heavily detract from the experience. Movement is a good example, because it’s not horrible, but it just feels off. It’s as if you can only walk slightly too slow or sprint slightly too fast. Then there are more annoying issues, like the game freezing and forcing you to load a previous save. It’s tough to say how much of this is caused by the switch to a first-person adventure game in unity from the developers’ custom engine designed around point-and-click games. In any case, these aren’t the types of issues you would expect from a franchise that has had 30+ games to perfect the Nancy Drew formula.

ND has never been known for top-of-the-line graphics, and this entry is no different. There has been a noticeable visual upgrade, but it’s still not particularly impressive. Everything feels very low-budget, and I think a big part of it is the switch to a free-look first-person camera instead of a typical point-and-click adventure where you click between scenes. It really draws attention to how empty and lifeless every environment is. Furthermore, it’s set in Prague, one of the biggest cities in Europe and an extremely popular tourist destination, yet you see maybe 20 different people in the entire game, including unnamed NPCs.

It’s not clear why this is the case, but the voice acting is notably bad, and not just because only a handful of characters have Czech accents in Czechia. My guess would be that the voice actors were given very poor direction while recording their lines. Sometimes a sentence will be said with proper emotions and sound like a real person, and other times it sounds like a text-to-speech program. On the other hand, the soundtrack is better, yet flawed. It wasn’t distractingly bad like most of the voice acting, but that’s still not much of a compliment. Furthermore, I’m required—as a fan of older ND games—to complain about the voice actor for Nancy. She does a decent job, but still doesn’t hold a candle to the original.

These small complaints don’t seem to matter on their own, but start to add up quickly. The overall quality of the game feels like a studio running low on funds and cutting corners. Things like the performance of the original voice actress and interacting with the core cast of characters were integral to the franchise. Leaving out established characters and limiting the amount of dialogue they have makes it feel like a completely different game. On the gameplay side, quality of life (QoL) issues are everywhere, from mildly clunky UIs to horrible hitboxes for clicking on items in the world. It feels like the game skipped QA testing and went straight to release.

Mystery of the Seven Keys will not be anyone’s favorite Nancy Drew game. If some of the fat had been trimmed, I would have enjoyed it a bit more, but in its current state, it drags on near the end and squanders all the goodwill it had built up.

For some games, I’d be able to give a half recommendation and say, “Quit when it stops being fun”, but when the whole game leads up to a mystery being revealed, the ending actually matters quite a bit.

I really wanted to like this game, as my wife and I have been fans of Nancy Drew for a long time. There were even a few moments that recaptured the magic of the earlier titles. Unfortunately, the games have gotten worse in recent years, seemingly in an attempt to expand their audience at the cost of losing their identity. It’s sad when a franchise loses its heart and soul in pursuit of maximizing profitability, and in this case, it has resulted in a game that is buggy, janky, and low-budget, without any sense of charm to help you ignore these problems. If you are a huge fan of the series and really want to give it a shot, get it on a substantial sale, because it isn’t worth the asking price. For anyone who isn’t a longtime fan, there are much better games to start with than this one.

No performance issues running on: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, 16 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 3070

Follow our Curator Page, MMM Reviews, for more in-depth reviews and recommendations

[quote] Follow our Curator page, [url=https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/curator/41449676/]Summit Reviews[/url], to see more high quality reviews regularly. [/quote] [i]Nancy Drew: Mystery of the Seven Keys[/i] is a mystery game in which you investigate a gem theft in Czechia. You play as the titular character, Nancy Drew, in the 34th installment of a franchise that stretches all the way back to 1998. The games have changed a lot over the years but have always retained the same core mechanics: they are point-and-click adventure games built around investigating a crime, questioning suspects, and solving puzzles. [h2]Story[/h2] I was looking forward to trying to figure out the mystery before it was revealed, which is always a highlight for me with this type of game. This one doesn’t have a unique premise—a jewel theft isn’t the most creative crime in the world—but that’s okay as long as the writers put in some effort to keep it fresh and interesting. Prague is a solid setting, even if it is a bit “normal” by video game standards. The history of the city is highlighted by the narrative, weaving it into the real world of Czechia. This is counteracted by the goofiness of the story, which can make it hard to take seriously at times. All that being said, it’s still the most enjoyable part of the game by a fair margin. Initially, the plot kept my attention quite well. Without bringing up spoilers, there are enough twists to keep you engaged. Having said that, it loses steam near the end and starts to feel like the developers are dragging it out to pad the game’s length. The narrative barely advances in the last third, which is especially disappointing given how fun it had been for the first 10 hours. This is more of an issue with gameplay pacing, but it still negatively affects the story too. [h2]Gameplay[/h2] Most [i]Nancy Drew[/i] fans probably come for either the story or the puzzles. Unfortunately, much like the storyline, the puzzles start strong but steadily worsen as you play. The most frustrating issue is that many puzzles aren’t particularly hard, just poorly explained. I often struggled to understand what they were asking for, but then solved it almost immediately once figuring out the rules. It’s a weird dynamic where the “eureka” moments are rare and short-lived, when those are usually the building blocks of a good puzzle game. This certainly doesn’t describe every puzzle, but it’s more common than not. I found myself wishing for fewer puzzles and more of the narrative. This is especially true in the last third of the game, which devolves into endless puzzles separated by a line or two of dialogue. To compound the issues with puzzle design, there’s also a significant lack of polish. There are minor things, like re-using NPC models in the same room, that are noticeable but don’t heavily detract from the experience. Movement is a good example, because it’s not horrible, but it just feels [i]off[/i]. It’s as if you can only walk slightly too slow or sprint slightly too fast. Then there are more annoying issues, like the game freezing and forcing you to load a previous save. It’s tough to say how much of this is caused by the switch to a first-person adventure game in unity from the developers’ custom engine designed around point-and-click games. In any case, these aren’t the types of issues you would expect from a franchise that has had 30+ games to perfect the [i]Nancy Drew[/i] formula. [h2]Presentation[/h2] [i]ND[/i] has never been known for top-of-the-line graphics, and this entry is no different. There has been a noticeable visual upgrade, but it’s still not particularly impressive. Everything feels very low-budget, and I think a big part of it is the switch to a free-look first-person camera instead of a typical point-and-click adventure where you click between scenes. It really draws attention to how empty and lifeless every environment is. Furthermore, it’s set in Prague, one of the biggest cities in Europe and an extremely popular tourist destination, yet you see maybe 20 different people in the entire game, including unnamed NPCs. It’s not clear why this is the case, but the voice acting is notably bad, and not just because only a handful of characters have Czech accents in Czechia. My guess would be that the voice actors were given very poor direction while recording their lines. Sometimes a sentence will be said with proper emotions and sound like a real person, and other times it sounds like a text-to-speech program. On the other hand, the soundtrack is better, yet flawed. It wasn’t distractingly bad like most of the voice acting, but that’s still not much of a compliment. Furthermore, I’m required—as a fan of older ND games—to complain about the voice actor for Nancy. She does a decent job, but still doesn’t hold a candle to the original. These small complaints don’t seem to matter on their own, but start to add up quickly. The overall quality of the game feels like a studio running low on funds and cutting corners. Things like the performance of the original voice actress and interacting with the core cast of characters were integral to the franchise. Leaving out established characters and limiting the amount of dialogue they have makes it feel like a completely different game. On the gameplay side, quality of life (QoL) issues are everywhere, from mildly clunky UIs to horrible hitboxes for clicking on items in the world. It feels like the game skipped QA testing and went straight to release. [h2]Verdict[/h2] [i]Mystery of the Seven Keys[/i] will not be anyone’s favorite [i]Nancy Drew[/i] game. If some of the fat had been trimmed, I would have enjoyed it a bit more, but in its current state, it drags on near the end and squanders all the goodwill it had built up. For some games, I’d be able to give a half recommendation and say, “Quit when it stops being fun”, but when the whole game leads up to a mystery being revealed, the ending actually matters quite a bit. I really wanted to like this game, as my wife and I have been fans of [i]Nancy Drew[/i] for a long time. There were even a few moments that recaptured the magic of the earlier titles. Unfortunately, the games have gotten worse in recent years, seemingly in an attempt to expand their audience at the cost of losing their identity. It’s sad when a franchise loses its heart and soul in pursuit of maximizing profitability, and in this case, it has resulted in a game that is buggy, janky, and low-budget, without any sense of charm to help you ignore these problems. If you are a huge fan of the series and really want to give it a shot, get it on a substantial sale, because it isn’t worth the asking price. For anyone who isn’t a longtime fan, there are much better games to start with than this one. [quote] No performance issues running on: [b]AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, 16 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 3070[/b] [/quote] [quote] [url=https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/curator/36214917/]Follow our Curator Page, MMM Reviews, for more in-depth reviews and recommendations[/url] [/quote]