A Quick Look at Nancy Drew: Ghost of Thornton Hall

On my other blog I had slowly started giving my thoughts on this series as I worked my way through. I thought about reintroducing it here but planned to go through the series from start to finish. Then I thought, it’s October play one of the “scarier” ones, and here we are. I put scarier in quotes because none of these games are truly meant to frighten. However, it is dealing with a ghost and to be honest has a few pretty creepy moments.

If you are unaware Her Interactive started releasing a series of Nancy Drew point and click mystery games in 1998. While there have been pauses, 26 years later (oh my god I feel old) we got yet another entry into the franchise. The games are stand alone, although they will make references to past games so there is something to attempting to play them in order. – For instance Nancy makes reference Shadow Beyond the Water’s Edge at the start of this game when she is called in for help – Each of the games takes inspiration from various other parts of the Nancy Drew franchise but also just come up with their own stories. Case in point, Ghost of Thornton Hall takes loose inspiration from the 2005 book Uncivil Acts. Whereas Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake took inspiration from a 1989 book and a 2002 one. Then you have the game Secret of the Old Clock which takes inspiration from the first four original Nancy Drew books, including of course our first Nancy Drew book from 1930, Secret of the Old Clock.

The games are interesting if not perfect. There is definitely a reliance on the Nancy Drew name to carry these games through. Although once again, they have been coming out fairly consistently for 26 years so there is something to them.

Ghost of Thornton Hall sees Nancy going to a private island owned by a southern family since The Civil War. The family has seen a lot of highs and lows and their most recent one, is the youngest and beloved Jessalyn having gone missing right before her wedding.

As I said, these games are (with a few exceptions) point and click mysteries. They are relatively easy and approachable because despite my age the target audience is kids (lol). They are also nonlinear and really allow the players to experiment and even fail. In fact I died at least once during this playthrough. Nancy will interview people, find clues, and have to solve puzzles in order to solve the mystery.

Nonlinear though they may be, they also tend to be small. Ghost of Thornton Hall has all of 3 main locations. A ruined house, a cemetery, and the ruins where Charlotte, the aforementioned ghost, supposedly died. Jessalyn was on the island with her friend as a pseudo bachelorette party to investigate the various hauntings around the island, but most especially Charlotte’s.

This game is decent and, while again made for kids, one that adults could get into, as long as they go in with the understanding of what they are getting into. As someone who has played earlier entries in the franchise it is cool to see how far they have come. The game came out in 2013 so feels a bit dated now, but the graphics are solid, the voice acting is good, and it overall feels pretty polished. Unlike early games you rarely have “pixel perfect” moments that can be frustrating in terms of gameplay.

(Older point and clicks can sometimes be annoying because if you don’t have your mouse lined up exactly right on a single pixel you can entirely miss things needed to progress)

Where I think this game particularly succeeds is the atmosphere. Again, the game is not going to really scare you like a true horror game, but for what it is there are several creepy moments. The designs of the location nails the vibe, and overall it’s got a decent unsettling feeling. Also Harper is a fantastic character.

The game can be frustrating with a lot of wandering around or thinking you’ve found everything you need for a puzzle only to find that no, you need to do just *one* more thing. Shockingly for only 3 major locations I found myself having to wander around quite a bit to trigger something, anything, or even find something small I missed.

But the fact is, as I said, a lot of what this game series depends on is the fact that it’s Nancy Drew. None of the ones I have played have been the best point and click mysteries, it’s simply not the case. But they have all been decent and pretty faithful to what the source material. There is a reason Nancy Drew has survived for damn near 100 years now, and these games fit right in.

If you like point and clicks and want a lower stakes and more approachable game I would recommend this or several that I have played from the series. Also if you have a kid that is just starting to get into mystery games or even Nancy Drew the character I would also strongly consider these. And while there isn’t much time left if you are looking for something with a few chills, but not totally terrifying, to finish up the Halloween season I think this one is a great pick.