My god. If you are looking for a good mystery game, this is it. I seriously have no idea how they expect little girls to play this and know what they are doing. You must do a great deal of in-game research, and talk to everyone in order to understand how to solve the insane ammount of puzzles. I learned every symbol for the Zodiak, the Planets, and I even memorized RUNES for goodness sake! Not only that, but you can actually die in this game, multiple gruesome ways! The lack of blood was the only thing that probably kept this at the rating it is now.

If you put the hardmode on (senior detective), all that changed as far as I can see if that you don't have a checklist to help you along. That said, I inform you to do two things: 1) Write stuff down in your own physical notebook. I had every bit of information at my fingertips, and I could put down what I thought would happen, and possible solutions and translations. 2) For the love of god, and all that is holy, finish the game without taking multiple days off fromt he game. There is no way you will remember all the things you were supposed to do after a few days of not playing.

There was absolutly nothing in this game that wasn't incredibly satisfying to solve. I loved this game, it's setting (very dark and spooky), and all the puzzles and the big mystery itself! The only sad thing is that it's pretty much one playthrough. Regardless, if you love mystery games, this is the game to get. I will be buying the other Nancy Drew games eventually to enjoy just as much as I did this one.

So I have played a few Nancy Drew games, and i only enjoyed the japanese ghost one, others were too meh for me especially the story. So after many reviews on whats popular, i chose this one. And the judgement is correct its pretty epic. I played right off the bat as a senior detective, and you know these games are pretty toughies but i really wanted a challenge. Also this is the only game which i keep notes on (for a detective game) and i was determined to finish it without a guide and I DID. it was such a wonderful feeling, the puzzles were tough but not impossible. The story is pretty great as well, i loved the twist ending. The music is cool as well, art of course and since this game has aged well you cannot really complain. What i hated was the go in the dark passageways with a green light. There were several fun mini games and i enjoyed all of em.

Get ready for:
* insane time games with a genius kid
* spooky jumpscares and a bit of horror
* psychology about wolves and zodiac, runes,history related to coat of arms and also alchemy
* learning British slangs and dishes
* lot of hidden passages in the dark
* learn what on earth the great big secret of this manor is
* a very intelligent parrot

Every ND game focus on a certain skill, and on this particular one it was time management and knowledge of symbols. You have insane time puzzles- the most hardest for me was the jigsaw puzzle within 5 minutes. I wish that at certain times i could have got out of the manor, but hey it was well made enough so i was not complaining. Another complain was the text fonts of her journal, it was pretty hard to read. But overall, the story about the curse, learning runes, history - I feel it all paid off.

This game is one of the scary ones that I played growing up. When I got to this game I literally was scared to turn off the lights! Now having grown older I realize that the game really wasn't that scary and my imagination played tricks on me a lot but it is still one of my favorites. I've enjoyed playing it many times and truly this particular game in the older years of Herinteractive really shows just how detailed the game's story can be. All you have to do is look at the Penvelleyn family story to see that. Definitely an enjoyable game.

Adventure games are not for me...

But, this one has got some good qualities. Most noticeably, at least to me, this particular Nancy Drew game features a lot of traditional occult symbolism and you have to familiarize yourself with it to pass some of these puzzles. You get to learn runic, alchemical symbols and astrology symbols as well. So that's cool. The puzzles are also quite satisfying to solve, once you get it. Admittedly, I did have to consult a FAQ on a few occasions.

The interface of the game is pretty traditional for first-person adventure games. You have to click left or right or up or down in order to get anywhere, otherwise there's a scrolling screen where you get a 360 view. The thing is that navigating through the manor can get really tiresome. You sometimes have to solve a puzzle over again in order to get where you've already been. At that point, it's just annoying.

And speaking of annoying, there was one particular puzzle where you had to get an answer from a character, navigate to the point of the puzzle, plug in your answer and then run back... four times. And did I mention that you have to do one of those puzzles to open a passageway to get to the place where the puzzle is?

Well, I give this one a passing grade, but you feel more like a puzzler than a detective. THOUGH, there is a plot point that was never resolved that is driving me crazy.

TL;DR - It's a puzzle game, not a mystery solving game.

From all the Nancy Drew games I have played (about 10), this is by far the hardest, and by a big margin. Many of the puzzles are extremely obscure and hard to figure out without a guide. If you like easy casual games and do not like hard puzzles that you have to figure out via vague hints given in the game, then you will get stuck and you will not like this game. Getting through this game without reading an online guide even once is a real challenge, and probably unsurmountable for most casual players.

That being said, you might notice that I'm actually giving this a positive review. That's because personally I just loved this game. When I started to play this game and noticed how amazingly hard and obscure the puzzles are, I decided that come hell or high water, I will complete this game without looking at an online guide even once. And I did.

And the thing is: When I finally succeeded, it was amazingly rewarding. I don't mean that the game rewards you with something special; I just mean that being able to figure out all the puzzles without any external help feels really rewarding all in itself.

All puzzles are solvable with logic, either using what the puzzle itself presents, or information gotten elsewhere (and most often both.) No puzzle requires blind guessing or trying all possible combinations. You will most probably require making notes or take screenshots to remember some of the info, but that's just part of the charm.

If you like hard logic puzzles and want to challenge yourself, I recommend this game. It's technically speaking very old (even for the year it was published), but that's not a big deal. However, if you don't have the patience, you will most probably not like this game.

This is the first Nancy Drew game I've played, but it quickly became one of my all-time favourites. My only gripe is that it ended too quickly! Just the right amount of challenging puzzles and spookiness and humour. The game has quite a dark, gothic theme to it which I enjoyed, but younger players migth be a little unsettled if they play it late at night.

The puzzles are quite difficult and I got stuck once or twice and even had to take a few days off the game to try to come up with new solutions. There's a lot of material to study in this game if you want to solve it without cheating-- and I do mean study! I had several pages of notes and sketches in my notebook by the time I was done and I'd probably be able to write an essay on the Penvellyns now. That might frustrate some players but if you enjoy being challenged, this is the game for you!

Fantastic game!

Curse of Blackmoor Manor is one of the strongest titles in the Nancy Drew series. The storyline is detailed and immersive, the puzzles are varied (in type and difficulty), and the characters are bold and have dialogue options that make you want to interact with them.

While not filled with jump scares like Haunting of Castle Malloy, Blackmoor Manor IS creepy. There are some surprising moments and the game is heavily influenced by its unnerving soundtrack. It doesn't help that there are segments of the game spent in darkness, and there are countless twists and turns everywhere...

Another feature of Blackmoor Manor that I adored is the fact that the player has some semblance of control over the time. You can change the time using Nancy's alarm clock, and some events are time dependent. It also adds a bit of roleplay to the game, as it seems unrealistic for a detective to call someone while around other people in broad daylight - by moving the time to 3am and calling someone from her room, it seems more realistic than in other Nancy Drew games.

One of the only drawbacks of Blackmoor Manor is the sheer amount of trekking back and forth that it requires. There are countless areas to explore, and many of them are filled with mini-puzzles. There's some that you'll have to do more than once, even when working on a main event/puzzle, and it can make the game feel terribly slow (and repetitive) at times.

It is an older game and sometimes you'll have to be patient for an item to react (after clicking on it/interacting with it). I only experienced a couple of bugs, mainly audio related, and nothing that a bit of waiting wouldn't fix.

Overall the Curse of Blackmoor Manor is a wonderful addition to the Nancy Drew series, and arguably one of the strongest titles. It is definitely worth buying at full price, especially if you're looking for a mystery game to complete over the weekend, or if you're new to Nancy Drew (or a Senior Detective!

This was the first ND game I ever played and it's still just as fun 15 years later. This one is a classic - the characters are fun and interesting (with the exception of Nigel, idk why he's even in the game), it has creepy moments that I can respect, and the story is interesting. It's not all that challenging, which you realize once you play some of the more recent ND games, but I think anyone who is an ND fan should play this one.

This is one of the first point and click adventure games that I played. I picked this up during a large sale as a way to introduce myself into the genre. And I'm glad that I did. It isn't the perfect game, but it is good. Some of the puzzles weren't exactly logical and you might need to guess until you get it right or look at a guide to figure it out. I'm sure some people will scoff at the idea of playing a Nancy Drew game, but I'd say you should look past that.

I haven't played any of the other Nancy Drew games, but I'd consider picking more of them up at the right price. I'd recommend picking it up at 75% off or maybe in a bundle that would offer the games at less than a dollar each.

I will update this review to be more in-depth at a later time.

So this game won't even launch, I kept getting a direct x isn't installed message, even with all the right compatibility settings and following the instructions they have for this issue on their website. There's no way around it and HER Interactive hasn't done a great job making sure this can run on better computers.
I've played all the Nancy Drew games as a kid and they hit , but this just plain doesn't work.