Midnight in Salem: The Case of the Disappointing Game

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*Spoilers are in this text.


Well, I played Midnight in Salem, the 33^rd Nancy Drew game, and it was a new game, but not a Nancy Drew game. Why? Because HeR Interactive tore out the soul of what made the adventure games so special.


That isn’t to say that the game doesn’t have improvements or good qualities. It does. But it is no longer what it used to be or could have been.


I am a dedicated Nancy Drew fan and cling to the original Nancy Drew yellow hardcover books. I have been playing Nancy Drew games since 2004, and I have played games 1-29 over and over again, saving the last three since they contain the magic that drew me to the series. 


The Pros

1. Environment

This aspect of the game is, without a doubt, the number-one improvement in the series. There is no argument. The natural areas, like the surrounding property of Moosham Castle and the Hathorne House forest, are impressive with the wind, sound effects, texture and shadows. 

We’re able to explore most of the areas we’re given, although Mei’s room and Lauren’s house are sadly not included or the rest of the courthouse. It’s not that big of a deal, though. The town square and cemetery/forest make up for it. Additionally, you can see the contrast of the Parry’s street versus the streets in Alibi in Ashes. We get to look up and down the street and see cars and other buildings in this game. It’s very realistic.


      2.  Characters

It’s impressive to have so many characters to interact with and to finally have people in the background that add atmosphere. Overhearing conversations and speaking with the protester are a nice touch. 

I also noticed that characters not speaking actually turn to look at the speaker. For example, at the afterparty, Nancy speaks to Olivia and Lauren turns her head to look at Olivia while she speaks. 

a.       Suspects

Most of the characters are well designed.

Michael Gray (a.k.a Arglefumph) did question the age of Olivia, Lauren, Teegan, Deirdre and Mei because Lauren, Olivia and Teegan are supposed to be the same age and much older than Mei and Deirdre is somewhere in the middle. The characters didn’t all reflect their age, but this can be realistic because even in reality, it’s hard to know someone’s age based on their physical appearance.

The backstory of the suspects was well thought out. I didn’t come across any blatantly obvious holes or contradictions in their stories.  

b.      The Team-Up

I love that the Hardy Boys are in-game characters again, and they didn’t have a bad makeover, like in The Creature of Kapu Cave. In Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon, Frank says that Joe has a hard time cooking, so it was nice that they were consistent with Joe’s character in MID.

Having Deirdre as an in-game character assisting Nancy is a nice change. I also love her remarks.

        3.  Maneuverability and Inventory

It’s a nice change from the old point-and-click method. I find the scavenger hunt for the fakery evidence in the forest is a fun puzzle because of the easier maneuverability. Granted, it does take a while before getting the hang of holding the right mouse button down and dragging to look and move around.

I appreciate the added inventory feature of turning items around to get a 3D look at them.

         4.  Storyline

I came across one issue with the storyline, which is listed below in The Cons section, but aside from that, I didn’t find any other blatant story or historical problems. Arglefumph may be more observant and indicate plot holes, historical mistakes or contradictions in his future “Everything Wrong With…” video.

         5. Reading Material

There is a lot less unnecessary reading in the game, and it’s a breath of fresh air. Sometimes, the reading material did add to the theme of the game, but there were times when there was too much.

Adding the Show Text option is genius and very appreciated!

               
         6. Puzzles

Several puzzles are new to the series, such as the cabinet puzzle that housed the Book of Apologies and Olivia’s note puzzle. They’re a nice change. I also enjoy doing the CCTV puzzle.


         7. Music

The music for the games is always a highlight! I am still slowly buying the soundtrack sets sold by HeR Interactive. My favorite ones for MID are Lauren’s tea shop music, the main theme of the game and the track that plays when Nancy pursues the thief in Austria.


         8. The Culprit

I like Alicia as the culprit and find that the voice actress did a fantastic job. Her monologue at the end is detailed, and we really see how reckless and uncaring she is. I’m happy HeR Interactive didn’t make another Ewan culprit, like in The Silent Spy.


The Cons

1.   The Release of the Game

HeR Interactive did not handle the release of the game well, from changing the release date about four times to changing the story to releasing images that were not the final rendering just months before the game was supposed to be released.



The whole process frustrated the fanbase and made us lose faith in the company. They didn’t seem to know what they were doing or how to properly market the game. I understand changing the dates once, maybe twice, but four times (or more) is too much. The worst one was when the game was postponed, I believe, three times over the past four years and hours before the fourth release date, HeR Interactive changed the date AGAIN. “It was rude. Very rude.”



In viewing the official trailer before the game was released, I was very upset that they spoiled the hidden passageway in the cemetery.


      2. Nancy

a.       New Voice

In connection with the bungled release of MID, HeR Interactive made a huge mistake by changing Nancy’s voice actress. They claimed they wanted someone who sounded younger, but that is absurd because Lani Minella can do voices of all ages.

Lani Minella added emotion to her voice. For example, when she spoke in the trailers at the end of the games, she made it interesting. She made us want to “join [her] in [her] next adventure.” Brittany Cox speaks normally, which at times sounds monotone, like in the first trailer we ever heard her in. She said “Join me in my next adventure.” She sounded young, but also inexperienced. I was looking forward to hearing the new voice of Nancy, even such a small sound bite, but in hearing her voice, I was upset. Now that I’ve listened to Brittany Cox’s voice in connection with the rest of MID’s features, I continue to be unimpressed. There’s nothing unique about it, like Lani Minella’s voice. 

b.      Dialogue

HeR’s writing team definitely made the dialogue match a younger/modern Nancy because I can’t hear Lani Minella saying “…so I’m expecting some good scares!” from the introduction of the game. 

c.       Character

Since this is Nancy’s 33^rd game, devoted fans expect her to act like an experienced detective, not a novice. When she doesn’t take the Book of Apologies from the desk, it doesn’t make sense. Nancy is a kleptomaniac; in fact, Indie, the HeR Interactive intern, made a video parodying this quality of Nancy’s. 

In Judge Sewall's room at Moosham Castle, Nancy says "It's hard to tell how far up we are," when you click on the window. I found this (before the thief shows up) to be rather stupid since you can see Nancy is standing several paces away from the table under the window. She could obviously move forward and look out. When I saw that a thief uses the window to get in, I couldn't believe it! The game designers trick us into thinking we're several storeys up; even Arglefumph said so in his blind playthrough. It was not a nice trick, HeR Interactive!

d.      Relationship with Ned

Why did the team make Nancy and Ned’s relationship worse than in The Captive Curse? I wasn’t happy about Ned’s absence from the game, especially since we couldn’t talk to anyone else on the phone.

        3.  Characters

Appearance-wise, I find Lauren and Teegan a bit underdone. Next to Frank and the Judge who both have good texturing, Teegan and Lauren could have used some work. Like the Hardy Boys, Deirdre’s second makeover is horrible. She looks way better in Alibi in Ashes.   

The first breakfast scene is odd. I don’t know why Mei is at the table because she’s not there on the second day. With Mei present, it pushes Deirdre partially out of the game screen.  

a.       Movements

The hand gestures of all the characters are strange at different points of the game. The first version of strangeness is obvious when Deirdre drives Nancy to the Parry house. Her gestures are distracting while she speaks, and they are clearly on a rotation. She has about six movements she performs as she speaks before repeating them, and they just continue cycling through. Jason is the same way when he speaks to you in his car.

Some of the characters never stopped swaying, whether they’re speaking, listening to someone else speak or just hanging around. Teegan and Joe are the worst ones, making it hard to, once again, concentrate on the dialogue. Teegan often stands with her arms partially up, which looks weird.

The audio doesn’t sync with the characters’ mouths. A few days after the game was released, I found people saying that there were certain settings that would make the dubbing less of an issue. It worked for me, but there are cutscenes that are still not working properly.

Even when the mouths and dialogue are synced, the characters’ gestures don’t always reflect the kind of emotion they are conveying. When first meeting Teegan, she bends her neck down at an angle that isn’t a normal reaction and sometimes, a character has finished their sentence, but their arms are still flailing about.

The characters don’t reflect their actions well. The cemetery scene with Olivia, Frank and Joe shows this. None of them have anything in their hands, so it’s not obvious that their drinking tea. It’s only after their dialogue implies what they’re doing that we can see their cups on the Little Liberty statue.

b.      The Tag-Along

It’s nice having more friends working in-person with Nancy, but having Deirdre shadow Nancy is startling because it’s a new aspect that devoted fans are not used to and she is WAY too close to Nancy. It’s the same problem when you play as Frank and Joe trails after you. I would recommend having the tag-along partner nearby, just not directly behind Nancy or Frank.

Several times, Deidre and Joe are in the way, which is somewhat frustrating.

I do love Arglefumph’s way of showing this annoying feature by always saying “Hi, Deirdre” or “Hi, Joe” every time he turned around or ran into them in his blind playthrough.

When the game tells you “You are now playing as Nancy Drew,” the silhouette they use for Nancy is actually the previous silhouette, not the new one where she’s holding a flashlight and wearing mom jeans. You can tell by her hairstyle. Why did they change the silhouette if they’re still going to use an older silhouette? 

c.       Phone Calls/Texting

I’m not terribly thrilled that texting is a thing in this game, particularly since we, as Nancy, cannot respond; she has automatic replies. The problem with the texting in the beginning of the game is that we are not alerted about the off-screen texts between Nancy and Ned and Nancy and Carson. Yeah, there’s a green dot on the phone, but I find those two text sessions should have been phone calls instead to make them more obvious.

I hate that Carson and Ned are so unavailable in this game until they’re triggered by some event or comment Nancy makes. It’s like Stay Tuned for Danger where Nancy can only speak to Bess, George or Ned once Mattie leaves a note on the pad beside the phone.

d.      Dialogue

I don’t like that the dialogue options are cut-off. Players can’t make an accurate decision of what they want to ask because they don’t know what they’re asking. 

At various times, the characters tell Nancy or Frank where to go. For example, Deirdre tells Nancy after being in the Parry House that they should start with the Judge. After she says this, I expected a cut scene for Nancy and Deirdre to suddenly be at the court house. It’s the same thing when Frank and Joe are investigating the forest and say “On to the museum!” but we actually have to walk there. I found this a bit confusing.

At the afterparty, Mei tells Nancy that she’s going to go to art school, but Waverly Academy doesn’t focus only on art. This is just a nitpicky comment, though.

         4.  Storyline

One aspect that I don’t find terribly realistic is that Teegan was in Hathorne House and looking for the will with a candle. I know there are candles everywhere is Salem and she used to use them when she was in the coven, but why would she use a candle while searching for the will? Why not use her cell phone as a flashlight? She has one since she texts Nancy in the game. Or why didn’t she use an actual flashlight? This reason for the Hathorne fire seems off. It’s also convenient that she was looking on the side of the house that had the clue to the will.


         5.  Environment

Teegan’s museum doesn’t live up to my idea of a museum. It seemed like a tidier and more somber version of Fatima’s taffy house/Buell’s in Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon. I mean, there is only one statue in the whole place and two sets of display cases, which we can’t view. Since the books are the major feature, it would make more sense to call it a library.


         6. Inventory and Phone

It’s obvious that HeR Interactive is leaning towards the touchscreen design. The main menu options during gameplay are three little lines in the upper left-hand corner, and the inventory has as few details as possible, taking up as little room as possible on the screen.


I miss having Nancy’s journal and the old version of the checklist. The phone checklist in MID made the game easier because it would tell you not just what tasks you had to do, but also where you had to go next. The fact that the HeR team put in the locations makes me think that they thought it wouldn’t be obvious to players of where to go. This means HeR should have fixed the confusing aspects of the game instead of leaving them in and giving us a checklist that tells us what to do every step of the way. Even with this new version of the checklist, it’s sometimes too vague, and we can’t call any phone contacts for hints. 


We spend so much time and effort finding the Book of Apologies and we never get to read any of it. We can look at it once it’s in our inventory, but that’s it.


          7. Game Specs

Almost everyone has trouble playing this game on a regular computer. I had to change my game’s settings to have it work more efficiently, and even then, there are still long loading periods and dialogue syncing issues. Why did HeR Interactive make a computer game that needs to be played on a gamer’s computer?

As part of the settings to help the game run smoother, I had to turn off the subtitles, so when Alicia speaks in the tunnels and fills them with water, I couldn’t understand anything of what was said and I didn’t know it was Alicia until I watched Arglefumph’s videos. I didn’t understand how Nancy knew, at the culprit reveal, that Alicia had anything to do with the water in the tunnels.


          8. Master Mode is Too Easy

The level of difficulty was indistinguishable. I have played Master/Senior mode for the first time in previous games, and it would take me many days and weeks to finish them. I chose Master level for my first playthrough of MID, hoping it would make the game last longer, but it did not. I finished the game in about a day and a half.

          9.  Puzzles/Achievements

The Nancy Drew games 1-32 have come a long way. They began to create puzzles where you could earn money and use that money to buy souvenirs and food, like in The Captive Curse and The Silent Spy. The later Nancy Drew games also had mini-games, such as Scopa. Little treasures like these make me (and other players) go back to play the Nancy Drew games over and over sometimes just to earn money and buy goodies. MID does not have anything quirky like this, which was one aspect that added to the magic in the adventure series. The Johnny cakes puzzle came close, but after making all of the cake designs once, we cannot go back to make more.

Just like the inventory, the puzzles are quite bare, in my opinion. They lack instructions and seem to be founded on intuition, such as the Johnny cakes puzzle and Joe’s ghost-tracking puzzle.

·         The Johnny cakes puzzle is designed for someone who knows how to bake in the real world and therefore, assumes which ingredients would most likely be used in large or small quantities. While the puzzle was not hard for me, I did not like this type of design. It seems like someone was lazy and didn’t want to design a real puzzle. It’s reminiscent of the baking challenge in The Secret of Shadow Ranch where players are not given the temperature for the oven and must guess.

·         Joe’s ghost-tracking puzzle has annoying audio and the device itself does not have any instructions explaining what the buttons do. Joe’s manual is not very helpful. The Master level of the puzzle uses the switch between the two knobs, so I feel that this level of the puzzle should have come with instructions for how the device works, at the very least. 

At times, I was stuck and doubting that I was doing a puzzle properly. In previous games, Nancy would explain some puzzles, such as in The Curse of Blackmoor Manor when she had to solve the underground door puzzles.

The torn letter puzzle in the Parry house gave me the impression that it was in the game just to be a throwback to the older games because it didn’t really serve any purpose. Teegan and Mei deny knowing about the note, and it ends there. We never get to find out whose stationary it was, either. The note itself isn’t revealing in any way. Someone knows something. Whoop-de-doo!

The Easter Egg is also badly designed. It’s not obvious that it is an Easter Egg, so multiple times during the game, I returned to the Parry’s house and clicked on the plant, thinking I had to click on it when no one was in the room.

Many other players find that there is a lack of puzzles in this game. I prefer the more dialogue/story-heavy games, so Shadow at the Water’s Edge and The Ghost of Thornton Hall were both too full of puzzles for me. They seemed to be a never-ending series of puzzles. However, I agree that MID could have used a few more puzzles.

The pumpkin achievement is not obvious. Teegan says that we can place them around Salem, but she never mentions that the candles are for the pumpkins. A friend of mine who played the game also didn’t connect the candles to the pumpkins. The instruction for this achievement should have been clearer by having either Teegan explain it or have Nancy say something about putting a pumpkin on the candle when you click the candle. 

We’ve had achievements in many of the other games that were for optional puzzles, like building the robotic cat in The Deadly Device or standing up for Ned in Secrets Can Kill Remastered. A large amount of MID’s achievements are automatic. What’s the point of getting achievements for actions that are necessary to complete the game?


      10.   The Ghost

I was very happy and impressed with the ghost scene with Nancy until Frank, Joe and Olivia say they drink tea in the cemetery and see the ghost because it was a dead giveaway that the ghost was a hallucination. This idea was used in The Ghost of Thornton Hall, so it was disappointing for me. Nancy only sees Charlotte after seeing Savannah’s book cover because no one ever says what Charlotte looked like. In MID, Nancy describes what she saw to Frank and Joe, so they see what she told them, but Olivia sees something different.

In this game, it would have been nice to have some real paranormal activity, like just a minor incident that makes us wonder “Was it a ghost?” The 70s version of The Hardy Boys did this once or twice.

            11.   Catching the Culprit

The climax of the game is obvious before reaching it because Nancy has so many friends in this game, and they’re present at the culprit reveal. I knew the culprit would not be able to get away because there were so many people there to stop her, but I was hoping for some drama, like her going out the window and Nancy having to catch her, like at the end of The Secret of the Old Clock or White Wolf of Icicle Creek. The culprit could even have used Olivia’s smoke bomb method to escape, like Jason does in Austria. But sadly, this scene was all talk, making it boring. It was like watching an old Perry Mason. I was very dissatisfied. HeR Interactive missed a great opportunity.

I don’t understand why we’re given three options during the culprit reveal. If finding the will and the Book of Apologies is necessary to complete the game, why are we given the option to reveal that we only found one of these items. It doesn’t make sense. It reminds me of the ending of The Ghost of Thornton Hall where Nancy can choose out-of-character options by not helping people out of the burning building. 

Because the dialogue options are cut-off, it gives the impression that we can reveal that we found the will and then choose to reveal that we have the Book of Apologies and then reveal what both documents together mean for the future of the Hathorne property, but instead we’re denied choosing all three in one game.

              12.   The Afterparty

This was also very movie-like, and while I did like learning about what would happen with Lauren’s house and the AW, Nancy always did the wrap-up in her letters. The game is not consistent. What was the point of doing the letter format at the beginning, but not at the end?

After speaking to everyone, I expected to get a jump scene that ends the game, but instead we have to click on the door to leave. 

Why don’t we get to hear Ned speak with Nancy on the phone when the game ends? It’s like the voice actor wasn’t available for the game, and they decided to make their relationship bad and give him very few lines. 

Post-Game Questions


Where were Bess and George?


Why didn’t Nancy bring Ned to Austria? Who was the girl Ned was with? Where was he taking his vacation? Why are Ned and Nancy’s relationship so bad in this game? They had a spat in The Captive Curse, but nothing like this. 


Ned mentioned he just got off of fall break, but since when do colleges have a break in October? There’s winter and spring break, but fall?


Why was there a light on in the Hathorne House right before Nancy meets Lauren? Who was up there, and how?


What does Deirdre do on the night Frank, Joe and Olivia see the ghost? Nancy interrupted this part by saying she had pins and needles in her hands.


What happened to Jason at Hathorne House? The text conversation he and Mei have on her phone hint that he hasn’t gotten over something that happened at Hathorne House. 


How did Carson react to his friend, Alicia, being the culprit? We never find out how he took it.


Overall


While this game has a variety of good features, the bad ones carry a lot more weight. HeR Interactive made too many changes too fast, and it is now something that the original fanbase cannot relate to, which is one reason many said in the message boards that they were returning the game or not going to buy it at all.


My impression is that HeR Interactive is trying to appeal to a younger generation and not the devoted fanbase that they claim they were listening to while making this game. Their claim is a lie because no one asked for a new Nancy Drew voice actress or a complete re-haul of the series. This should not be the 33^rd game; it should be the 1^st game of a new series/era. Nancy’s character is back to amateur level and the game is so easy that it is similar to Secrets Can Kill. I expect that, over time, the games will improve, much like the character improvements we saw from Secrets Can Kill to Stay Tuned for Danger and so on. 


HeR Interactive made a real mess with this game. While I will continue to buy the games, she is #NotMyNancy and the magic is gone. 

R.I.P.

 Nancy Drew voiced by Lani Minella

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