Witches and werewolves
and runes – oh my! No, we’re
not talking about Harry Potter, it’s instead intrepid, teenage
sleuth Nancy Drew.

Having just helping Nancy solve her eleventh pc adventure, I can
soundly predict that Nancy Drew aficionados are in for a treat, and
not a trick, this Halloween season.

Nancy’s newest adventure sees her off to the centuries old
Blackmoor Manor located in the moors of jolly old England. Only it’s
not so jolly for Nancy as newly wed Linda Penvellyn – a friend and
former neighbor of the Drew family – now refuses to leave her
bedroom and insists that there are strange goings on afoot in Blackmoor
Manor.

Nancy – being the inquisitive type – decides to investigate
further and luckily we get to tag along (you never know when Nancy
might have a d’oh moment!).

The list of suspects include:

Mrs. Drake – family
member who oversees the manor. A strict disciplinarian and somewhat
of a prude, she seems to be fixated with
that huge carnivorous plant in the conservatory.

Jane Penvellyn – Linda’s
ten-year old stepdaughter who loves to play boardgames. Could someone
so young be responsible for
the manor evil-doings? Hey, did you ever see The Bad Seed?!

Ethel Bosinny – Jane’s tutor. Charming, but strangely
mysterious. Gotta admit though, she’s a cutie. Oh, if only
I were twenty years younger and comprised of polygons.

Nigel Mookerjee – A
local historian who is researching and cataloguing the Blackmoor
Manor library. Or is his research just
a pretense?

Brigette Penvellyn – Sure she’s
been dead for over a century, but this is a ghost story after all!

Loulou – An eighty-year old parrot from the Amazon. Okay,
she’s not really a suspect, I just like to say Loulou.

Some of the suspects this
time around do move about the manor and even interact and sleep
according to real time. For example, Jane
has lessons everyday from 8am – 4pm, so Nancy cannot visit
her room during these hours. There is also an alarm clock in Nancy’s
room that can be set to awake her at specified times.

The manor itself is very well laid-out with enough secret corridors
and hidden rooms to keep one searching every shadowy nook and cranny.

Most companies will market their newest game as the most challenging
yet, but that claim is no exaggeration for Blackmoor Manor as I found
it to have the most stimulating puzzles of any Nancy Drew game yet.
Prepare to do some heavy duty reading and note-taking as you will
need to familiarize yourself with astronomy, ancient runes, Latin
and even cockney slang.

Nancy’s notebook
is a huge help as it contains her thoughts and thus clues, but
just as important is her telephone that has a
browser so you can do some web surfing.

All in all, this is probably
my favorite Nancy Drew game yet. It has just the right amount of
spookiness and some clever puzzles.
Hopefully, you’ll get to play it on a cold, dark night while
the wind is whipping off the moors and the full moon is glowing through
the flickering tree branches. Just remember to occasionally look
over your shoulder….