X
- E10+
- Her Interactive
- E10+
- Her Interactive
- E10+
- Her Interactive
- E10+
- Her Interactive
Nancy Drew: Midnight in Salem
Released On: Nov 19, 2019
Metascore
Available after 4 critic reviews
3.9
All Platforms
Nancy Drew games are often considered as “girls’ games” but I think that conception is ancient and belongs to the past. Anyone who likes a good, relaxed crime story without excess violence is allowed to enjoy Nancy Drew: Midnight in Salem.
Midnight in Salem feels slightly rushed, and for a five year wait it really shouldn't have been, but it is still very enjoyable for both new and old players of the series.
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 23 User Ratings
3.9
30% Positive
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
9% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
61% Negative
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 23 User Ratings
3.9
30% Positive
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
9% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
61% Negative
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
A greatest game among all I ever seen! Keep it on! Do a new one! Pretty please!
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PC
Nancy Drew: Midnight in Salem trades in brainteasing puzzles for a greater focus on an interesting story and a large cast of characters, but is hampered by rough edges that even four years of development couldn’t smooth.
Honestly, the game is much better then people are giving it credit for. Yes it’s not the best in the series but it is also not even close to the worst. The graphics in some aspects are worse but in others they are better. With the world being more 3D HER bit off a lot more on that end. The overall gameplay is solid and has some potential for future games. HER miss handled the marketing and community out reach for sure. Over all though I enjoyed the game and would recommend you give it a shot before jumping to conclusions.
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PC
I was very excited for this game to come out. I played it as junior detective with ease (more ease than usual). I was skeptical of the new navigation at first but by the end of the game I was comfortable with the new format. Like other reviewers say, the graphics aren’t great - but this platform and style of game play was a huge feat. The way I look at it - the story line was good, I enjoyed the case and characters, but it was lacking in some of the graphics and there were a few dialogue glitches. HOWEVER, it is a better (albeit different) style of game play and it can only improve from here. I really hope HerInteractive continues and does better next game! I was VERY disappointed not to have a preview of what the next game will be... but hopefully it’s coming BEFORE 2025... lol... seriously though please! But yea, I recommend the game for ND fans. If you haven’t played the other games or didn’t like them, you won’t like this.
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PC
tldr: Cut the chatter and go back to more puzzles! Can't believe I dug my notebook out for this game. If there’s anything that stands out immediately that something went wrong with this game, it’s the fact that I’d finished it, and written notes on exactly 2 post it notes. TWO! Alas, there were maybe 5 puzzles in the entire game? The focus was definitely on dialogue which posed 2 big issues for me. 1) I had to majorly crank down the graphics settings to get this game to flow properly. I’ve got a pretty new computer (that should be able to handle a lot more than a simple Nancy Drew game) and on normal settings, the dialogue was consistently a good 10 seconds behind. Ergo, talking was super annoying. Basically, I had to turn on subtitles, read quickly, and button click my way through the madness. 2) Nancy Drew games follow a predetermined plot. It’s not like you can mess up figuring out what happens, or pick the wrong bad guy, so making the gameplay dialogue based made no sense. Essentially, nothing you do matters. Her “verbal sleuthing” is a forgone conclusion, so you just sit there, mindlessly click through every conversation bubble, and you win. Congrats. The end.
I also kept expecting fun little side puzzles introduced early in the game to play larger roles later on. “Oooh, she gave me an advanced herb to use, bet I’ll need that later”. Nope. Or “oooh pancakes! Maybe I’ve got to make some suspect’s favorite shaped pancake to get them to talk!” Nope. Side puzzles are silly, but that’s part of what’s been fun about ND. Ok, last complaint: Navigation! Holy moly guys! Normally it takes a few turns about town to get a feel for where the arrows are in a ND game, and then you’re whizzing about from puzzle to puzzle. But this one just never clicked. The directional arrows never seemed to be in intuitive, nor in the right part of the screen. Lots of weirdly sharp angles and positions. I kept finding myself coming up on a turn, thinking I was at the junction, just to find myself turning into a portrait of a dead president. Sigh.
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PC
Honestly... I'm so disappointed. This is almost nothing like the old ND games. The graphics were pretty awful, so much so that speech was delayed. The story was pretty boring and incredibly predictable. There weren't nearly enough puzzles, and the ones that were in the game weren't challenging in the least. It's so sad because fans have been waiting so long and to give us this is almost a slap in the face. I honestly can't believe I paid $30 for this. It's really that bad.
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PC
Nancy Drew Midnight in Salem is simply an incomplete game. I know that is hard to believe since it has been roughly 4.5 years since the last release in the series. Midnight in Salem has potential, but it misses the mark by a lot. I will start with the positives of the game. The soundtrack is good. It does a good job of setting the tone of the game. Another positive thing about this game is the mystery itself. I love it when Nancy Drew games weave history within the story. This game does a great job of educating the player about the witch trials. Lastly, the voice actress for Nancy does a really solid job. I miss the old voice, but that does not mean the new one is bad. Now for the negatives. I have already experienced crashes within the game. This is something that can be fixed through patches in the future. The main issue I have with the game is on the technical side. It feels like there is no art direction, no detail on anything, textures on assets look like garbage, environments are bland, movement is choppy, animations are overall poor, lip movement does not match up at all with the words, assets do not look rendered at all. Also in many cutscenes (Deirdre driving for example), it looks like there is just one plane for the grass and a skybox. It just makes me think we are all floating. All of these things contribute to feeling like this game has no atmosphere. It just feels empty. Every part simply feels empty. Many trees are just floating in the air, and the backgrounds are empty in each scene. These technical things are too distracting for me. I know it's not the case, but it feels like the game was made in a month. I went in knowing that there would be some technical and graphical errors, but I can't look past them. They are so apparent it takes away all of my enjoyment for the game. I love the Nancy Drew games and wish HER the best moving forward. This game can be salvaged, but I would say just move on. The amount of time it would take to fix the game isn't worth it. I feel so much pain when I type this, but I do not recommend this game. I hope HER can turn this around.
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PC
Summary How Far Would You Go to Escape the Past?
Rated E +10
for Everyone +10
Platforms:
- PC
Initial Release Date: Nov 19, 2019
Developer:
- Her Interactive
Publisher: Her Interactive
Genres:
