| Nancy Drew: The Captive Curse | |
| Developer: | Her Interactive |
| Publisher: | Her Interactive |
| Released: | June 28, 2011 |
| Platform: | Microsoft Windows Mac OS X |
| Modes: | Single-player |
The Captive Curse is the 24th installment in the Nancy Drew point-and-click adventure game series by Her Interactive. The game is available for play on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X platforms. It has an ESRB rating of E10+ for moments of mild violence and peril.[1] Players take on the first-person view of fictional amateur sleuth Nancy Drew and must solve the mystery through interrogation of suspects, solving puzzles, and discovering clues.[2] [3] There are two levels of gameplay, Junior and Senior detective modes, each offering a different difficulty level of puzzles and hints, however neither of these changes affect the plot of the game. The game is loosely based on the book Captive Witness (1981).
For centuries, a legendary monster has terrorized residents of a Bavarian castle, called Castle Finster, in Germany. According to the legend, the monster will vanish for years at a time until, without warning, it reappears to claim its next victim. So far every victim it has claimed has been a young woman, reputed to be wearing a peculiar jeweled necklace at the time of her disappearance. In the present day, young American detective Nancy Drew has been called in by the castle's owner to discover the truth behind recent monster sightings, before the monster can strike again. As Nancy delves deeper into the case, she begins to fear that someone in the castle plans for her to be the monster's next victim.
Additional voice work was performed by Daniel Christenson, Jennifer Pratt, Chiara Motley, Keri Healey, Scott Kirk, Nicole Fierstein, Adrienne MacIain, Kira Lauren, and Mark Waldstein.
The game was officially released on June 28, 2011. It will be the first game in the series to feature improved installation, gameplay, and graphics through the use of a DVD for installation of physical copies of the game.[4] On May 17, 2011, pre-orders were announced to begin on June 1, with each pre-ordered copy of the game including bonus content.[5] Pre-orders concluded on June 15, 2011.[6]
Jinny Gudmundsen of USA Today rated it 3.5/4 stars and wrote, "The Captive Curse isn't the best Nancy Drew mystery from Her Interactive, but it is a well constructed one that will get kids thinking while they are entertained."[7] Darcie King of Gamezebo rated it 4/5 stars and wrote that the game had excellent graphics and voice acting, but some players may be frustrated by the fact that dialogue cannot be skipped.[8] Merlina McGovern of Adventure Gamers rated it 3/5 stars and wrote, "While fans of the Brothers Grimm may at first be intrigued by the premise of this fairy tale Nancy Drew, The Captive Curse is too limited to do the folklore books any real justice."[9]