Nancy Drew®: The Captive Curse

• Nancy Drew The Captive Curse Renate's Puzzle
• Nancy Drew The Captive Curse Trailer
• Nancy Drew®: The Captive Curse Cast
• Nancy Drew®: The Captive Curse Oak Island

Watch the official trailer here for Nancy Drew: The Captive Curse. Order the game @ A. The Captive Curse is the 24th game in the Nancy Drew PC Games. It was released on June 28, 2011. Plot For centuries, a legendary monster has terrorized residents of a fictional Bavarian castle, called Burg Finster, in Germany. According to the legend, the monster will disappear for years at a time, until suddenly it reappears to claim its next victim. So far every victim it has claimed has. Product Description Nancy's off to Germany to investigate mysterious sightings of a creature that's been terrorizing the community of a remote Bavarian castle. Local legend tells of a creature that marauded the area centuries ago, wreaking havoc and ultimately causing the death of a young woman before disappearing without a trace.

A mysterious monster is terrorizing an isolated community in Bavaria, luckily, Nancy Drew is on the case!

Join Nancy Drew as she embarks on her 24th investigation in Nancy Drew: The Captive Curse. A mysterious creature is terrorizing the community of an isolated castle in the Bavarian wilderness. Is it the monster for the castles legends, or is someone just playing a cruel prank? It’s up to Nancy Drew to find the culprit before the monster attacks again.

Legend has it that a monster lives in the woods surrounding the castle and every so often it returns to find a new victim. The victim is always a pretty young girl in traditional German attire and wearing a gold and ruby necklace. After a series of events lead up to Nancy donning a costume for an upcoming festival, she realizes that she is intended to be the monsters next victim.

During the investigation Nancy will interrogate suspects, question witnesses and solve a vast array of mind boggling puzzles. Along the way she will uncover clues that will help you solve the mystery, as well as numerous red herrings to misdirect.

If you have played any of Nancy Drew’s previous adventures you will be very familiar with the gameplay here. The game is first person, so you are playing as Nancy Drew and seeing the world through her eyes. There are two modes of gameplay, Junior and Senior Detective. Junior Detective provides you with a checklist that tells you what you still need to do. This is incredibly helpful, as you will often find yourself lost in the castle hallways, wondering what it was you were supposed to be doing.

The graphics are excellent as is the norm for the series. The castle is very detailed and you can explore many different areas within it. However, the game world is quite small. You have access to the castle, its dungeons, the courtyard and the woods. While there are shops in the courtyard you will not be visiting any of them or meeting any of the other inhabitants of the castle community. Considering that everything in the game happens in one night, this is somewhat believable. Still, it would have been nice to have gotten more of a feel for the community than just the inhabitants within the castle.

Nancy will be questioning an interesting group of suspects this time around. There are only four other people in the castle but you will be talking with them quite a bit. There is Karl Weschler, the Burgermeister (mayor) of the community, although he seems much more interested in launching his new board game than managing the castle. Anja Mittelmeier is the castellan and in charge of the household. Lukas Mittelmeier is the young son of the security guard and a prankster who takes great pleasure is riling up Karl. Renate Stoller is the elderly storyteller who seems to turn up at the castle every time the rumor of the monster starts making its rounds. All of the characters seem to be hiding something and it’s up to Nancy to find out what.

The puzzles in The Captive Curse are a definite high point. They range in difficulty from moderate difficulty to extremely difficult. There isn’t a journal in the game so it would be a good idea to keep a notebook on hand while playing. That way you can jot down information as you go, such as German words and their translations. Puzzles cannot be skipped if you become stuck though and that can become frustrating. Luckily, there is a built in hint feature.

The hint line seems to be a new addition in The Captive Curse. In previous games Nancy could call her friends to ask for help. While Nancy can still call her friends and chat about the case, she can now call the hint line on her phone for hints pertaining to the game. When you call the hint line you will be given a vague hint at first. If you still can’t progress you will be given an option to get another hint, and so on. You can’t get hints about everything, but this feature is quite helpful for some of the more involved puzzles.

The only real annoyance in the game is that you still cannot skip through dialogue. You have to question the characters to advance the plot and they are all quite long winded, and a couple of them speak rather slowly. Even if you have finished reading the subtitles you still have to wait until they finish talking to continue the conversation.

In the end The Captive Curse is an excellent addition to the Nancy Drew series. I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the series or who is looking for a good story with a lot of puzzles along the way.

Nancy Drew: The Captive Curse

Nancy Drew: The Captive Curse is the 24th game in the long-running Nancy Drew series from Her Interactive. I have played and enjoyed all of the Nancy Drew games, and this game is definitely among the best games in the series. I am sure it will appeal to existing fans of the franchise, but it is also a great entry to start for gamers new to the series. It has fun puzzles, an intriguing setting, good atmosphere, and memorable characters. I highly recommend it.

This time, the 'sassy detective' has been hired by a German investor named Markus Boehm. Markus sends Nancy to Bavaria to solve a mystery at Castle Finster, an ancient castle that he owns and wants to turn into a profitable tourist destination. Unfortunately for Markus, a terrifying monster has been seen stalking the castle and nearby woods, and its description matches that of a fearsome beast mentioned in the castle's darkest folklore. According to the legend, the monster will not go away until it has kidnapped a young woman from the castle. Nancy soon realizes that she is being set up to be the monster's next victim! The youthful sleuth must use all of her skills to explore the castle, question and snoop on the suspects, solve puzzles and riddles, and, of course, learn all about German folklore and traditions along the way.

The game includes a colorful cast of characters, including the burgermeister named Karl, the visiting storyteller named Renate, the rambunctious child of the security guard named Lukas, and the castellan named Anja. I suspect some gamers will not know the meanings of the words 'burgermeister' or 'castellan', but as with other games in the series, this game is intended to enlighten as well as entertain. By the end of the game, I feel like I have really visited a castle in Germany and know a lot more about the country's unique culture and traditions.

Nancy Drew The Captive Curse Renate's Puzzle

All of the characters have a different motive implicating them in the mystery. Even the caste's owner, Markus, has a possible motive to fabricate the monster's appearances to bring more notoriety to the castle, which turns out to be more of a financial burden to him than he has let on. Karl dreams of being a board game designer instead of a manager. Nancy even gets to play a prototype of Karl's game, Raid—a mini-game that is almost good enough to justify purchasing the game just to play it! Anja turns out to be Markus' former girlfriend, but the split may not be as amiable as she implies. Lukas loves pranks and is just clever and ambitious enough to create a monster costume. Finally, Renate has a habit of showing up at the castle just as the monster sightings begin, which may be more than just a mere coincidence. All of these characters have plenty of fun and occasionally hilarious dialog. Also, Nancy's boyfriend, Ned, is having second thoughts about their relationship, and the detective will need to get some advice and make some calls to placate him. Fortunately for Nancy, Frank and Joe, the famous Hardy Boys, are available to give her advice about Ned and, of course, the mystery of the monster.

Of course, adventure games depend on clever puzzles to keep the players entertained, and this game has plenty of them to offer. Most puzzles can be solved by paying careful attention to the environment, listening to what other characters say, and reading Nancy's notebook, where she keeps notes about suspects and observations. Many of the puzzles tie in to the Germanic theme, such as deciphering codes based on German words or playing German games with Karl and Lukas. There are also a couple of mazes to navigate and the usual mix of object based puzzles, such as using a pair of tongs to move a hot lever. Some of the logic puzzles are difficult enough to challenge an adult, so younger players may want to select the lesser difficulty level. (The game offers 2 levels of difficulty: Senior Detective and Junior Detective.) This is particularly the case with a few timed puzzles. As usual with adventure games, it is important to talk to all of the characters repeatedly and follow up on all the leads listed in Nancy's notebook.

The voice acting and music in this game are as good as all the previous Nancy Drew games. The actors are convincing, and the scripting is competent. The character animations are better in this game than in previous games. Apparently, work has been done by Her Interactive to improve their 3D modeling and the characters' emotional expressions. The interface has not changed, however—this is a point-and-click game with a first-person navigation system.

I cannot find any serious criticism to this game. I expect all fans of the series to enjoy this game. The writing, puzzles, artwork, and music are all finely executed. However, the soundtrack gets repetitive after a few hours of play. I am a bit disappointed that there are no puzzles or dialogs involving beer, considering the German setting. I suppose, however, that Her Interactive has consciously chosen to avoid all references to alcohol for the sake of younger gamers, which is understandable. I am also puzzled as to why there is no dancing mini-game based on German folk dances or a cooking mini-game in which Nancy makes weiner schnitzel or other traditional German dishes. Dancing and cooking mini-games have appeared in earlier Nancy Drew games and are quite fun to play. Still, the mini-games that are included here, especially Karl's board game, are excellent.

To sum up, Nancy Drew: The Captive Curse is a brilliant and charming game as well as a wonderful addition to Her Interactive's Nancy Drew franchise. Whether you are an existing fan or a gamer new to the series, I highly recommend it. Until next time, auf wiedersehen!

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